Mad world
by cinnamon988
Summary: After finding a mysterious alien text, Rose's life on parallel Earth is turned upside down. She not only has to solve the riddle the writing is, but has to deal with her own life disappearing too.
1. The beginning of the end

The 20th of August has been a holiday in the UK for eight years now. In 2007 on this day, the lasts of John Lumic's crazy creations were destroyed, after months of terror. Since then, this day became the day of both grief and joy in the country. The people were grieving for the ones they lost –even for the ones they didn't know- then celebrated the ones that lived.

It was a rainy Sunday in London, the kind of, that makes even the most cheery people depressive. It was like the weather was trying to symbolise what the day meant to the humanity. The clouds on the sky weren't even the normal almost black ones that meant a storm was approaching; they were boring ugly-gray. The sunlight was dimmed by them, and it made the whole city look almost colorless. The streets were empty, the people preferred to stay inside their homes, sipping hot cocoa in front of the telly.

The only ones not doing the same as the majority of London were the workers of Torchwood Institute. The employees were on constant alert, because the aliens that wanted to invade their beloved planet weren't the kind that would postpone an attack just because the humans wanted a lazy day.

On the 35th floor of the Tower six agents were bending over their respective projects, trying to figure out riddles, equations or other various problems. For example, Mickey Smith, the head of the computer technicians was working on an alien virus with the help of an other scientist. Or to be more specific, he was trying to figure out how it worked, so the Institute could use it when the situation called for it.

At another table Jake Simmonds was going over last month's alien sightings, in order to find a connection between the attacks that happened at the last week.

In the next room dr. Alan McGill, a physicist in his late forties, was checking out the latest reports of the Cardiff branch about the increasing rift-activity.

In the third office Pete Tyler was typing up the reports he had to send to the president in every month. Every now and then he would pause, and would write something on the post-it notes he kept near his compter. The notes were about the things he had to do for his little girls' birthday party. Like getting party-hats, plastic plates (so the kids couldn't accidentally break it), ordering a cake –Jackie protested, saying that she's more than capable of baking it, but Pete pointed out, that there'd be about fifteen kids, so there is no way he could do enough for them. In the end they agreed, that they'd have an other celebration, just with the family, and Jackie'd make her world famous chocolate cake for the occassion.

In the fourth lab Rose Tyler was trying to solve an ancient alien text carved into stone, wich was found in South-Wales the previous week. She didn't find it hard to translate the writing; the code it was written in was her real problem. She already ruled out at least twenty patterns, but was still at square one.

For five years now, Rose had been working for the Institute as a linguist. It was her job to translate everything the agents brought in. Occassionally she was to go with the teams, and in her opinion these missions worth every hour she spent behind a desk. She very good at her job, thanks to the years she spent with the Doctor travelling, back in her old universe. Somehow the ability of understanding every language didn't vanish over the years. Or at least that's what she told her worrying mother. If it was the truth, Mickey should've been able to understand these things too. Only Rose knew the whole story, about the Bad Wolf. It wasn't the TARDIS that gave her the ability, or at least, not anymore. It was the Time Vortex, or to be specific, its remnants in Rose. The Doctor –and for a while Rose too- always thought that he removed all, but he was wrong. A tiny little bit remained, making itself a part of Rose. And after five years, Rose truly understood, what it meant feeling the Earth rushing beneath her feet, and knowing what it was, what it is, and what ever could be. This time the knowledge wasn't overhelming, like it was on the Gamestation; it was just there, popping up when she needed it; it was somehow dormant.

After spending three hours straight bent over a piece of stone without any achievment, Rose was getting frustrated. She knew she'd start slamming things in any minute, so she decided to take a little break. She went to get herself a large mug filled with tea, then she sliced some cake –remained there after Mickey's birthday two days ago-, and sat down to eat it. After three minutes she saw his ex-boyfriend walking in, accompanied by Jake.

"Hey guys," she greeted.

"Hello, Rose," said Jake, and Mickey nodded. He spent last night in his office working, so he was more than tired. He was exhausted.

"How is the virus?" asked Rose from Mickey.

"I can't figure it out. Every time I crack a code, there are two other in its place. This one is gonna be my death," he answered, "And how are the riddles?"

"I'm stuck. I can translate the text, but I can't find its logic. All I know, that it's some kind of prophecy, or at least looks like one.But without the pattern, the whole thing is like a ramblings of an eight years old on crack," she whined.

"Are you sure it's not written by an underage druggie?" joked Jake, then turned serious when Rose glared at him, "Ok, bad joke. But here is an idea. Stop looking at it like a linguist. I mean, if it looks like a druggie wrote it, it must be write about some monumental, grand event," Rose nodded, the text was a description of a couple of rather abstact scenes, "Right, then try to imagine it. Associate it with things you know, thing that may look like that."

"Wow Jake. I didn't know you could be that deep," mocked Mickey..

"Shut up," came Jake's reply, then he turned to Rose, "So, what do you think?"

No answer came. By this time Rose wasn't listening to them. She did as Jake told her. To her suprise, it actually worked. She could see it before her eyes, and it terrified her. The description matched the one she saw in 1987, when she saved her Dad. The coming of the reapers. But that didn't make sense. The reapers meant paradoxes, and paradoxes meant the end of the world. The text couldn't be about it, because the world just wouldn't exist if it happened. She quickly recited the remaining part of the writing, searching for something that'd explain it. But she couldn't come up with anythin that'd explain the text's red cannibal beast, that'll lead he monsters to devour the world. She snapped out of her musings by the feel of Mickey's elbow connecting with her side.

"Ouch," she exclaimed, then swatted her friend on the arm, "What the hell was that for?"

"You were zoning out. Does that mean that you find the answer?" he asked.

"Maybe. If what Jake says is right, it might be about a paradox," she answered.

"But doesn't that equals the end of the world?" asked Jake.

"It does," replied Rose grimly, "But it's just a theory, so let's not panic."

After a couple of minutes the boys went back to their office, leaving Rose alone. She was staring out at the clouds, what seemed to be a little dfferent than usual. She couldn't explain why she felt that way about them, so she just thought it's because of the exhaustion. She quickly dismissed her thoughts, replacing them with fantases about sunshine and beaches. She was so deep in her daydream, that she didn't even notice that she walked out of the little kichen, going back to her office. She was clearly shocked, when she found herself back behind her desk.

She worked on her project for an other couple of hours, finally stopping when the clock on her desk emitted a loud sound, signing that it was already seven o'clock, time to go home. She packed her stuff, this time not even reluctantly, knowing that she couldn't concentrate anymore. She walked out of her office, toward Pete's, knowing that his clock also notified him about the time. She walked in without knocking, and found him already packing. She cleared her throat. Pete turned around and smiled at her.

"What happened? Is the world coming to an end?" he asked teasingly, "It must be something serious that makes you leave the tower before midnight."

"No, the world is safe. I'm only stuck and tired," she replied.

"Ok, let's go. I assume you come and have dinner with us."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Then what are we waiting for," exclaimed Pete, then opened the door for his daughter, "Just after you, ..er….," he stopped, suddenly not remembering.

"Rose. My name is Rose," she told him, clearly hurt, but worried, that he forgot it.

"I know. I just…..I don't know…..couldn't say it. It was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't remember corrctly. I'm sorry darling," he said, truly confused, what just happened.

"It's ok. Happens to the best of us," she answered, not completely assured.

After that they got home without any more incidents. When they arrived, Jackie already set the table, and collected her two youngest kids to the table. Susan and Sarah Tyler were already four years olds, and their favourite game was hiding their parents' things –like keys, IDs, and in Jackie's case jeweleries. They were two little bundles of energy, so it was a pleasant suprise for the newcomers to see them sitting at the dinner table. Soon Jackie came in too, and after everybody seting down, they began to eat.

During dinner they were chatting about little nothings, like weather, the neighbour's new dog, the food. After a while they were talkin about the next month, which several birthdays took place in. Pete's was on the third, the twins' on the 16th,

"…and Rose's on the….er…"

"On the 18th, Mum," helped Rose, hurt for the second time that evening.

"Yeah. I don't know what came over me," tried to explain Jackie.

The atmosphere after that was rather strained, so Rose left early. On her way home she was still fuming, cursing everyhing she could think of. When she reached her flat and calmed down, she began worrying. Her own parents forot things like these. She wasn't big fan of the conspiracy theories, but she couldn't help, she was suspicious. What if somethig or somebody was messing with their heads.

She tried to think back to her travels, trying to remember any race that could cause this. She didn't find any, so she was concentrating to the vortex inside her, searching for aliens. After a while she came up with several suspect, but they've never were at this part of the universe. She tried not to think about it more, and with that thought she went to bed.

MW-MW-MW-MW-MW-MW-MW-MW

In the next weeks the events continued. Several coworkers forgot her name, who she was, or lately her whole existence. Her family and close friends showed the signs too. They called her wrong names –when they remembered at all-, forgot her birthday, events of her life.

But the most disturbing thing was that she was forgetting too. Dates, memories, things from her own life. Her little episodes came more recently too. Like when in one moment she was in her room, in the next she was standing in the kitchen, without remembering to go there.

After these weeks she built up the courage to go to the infirmary to ask the doctor about her condition. Of course it was only possible after reminding dr. Carla Raines who she was. The woman sent her to various tests and examinations, but they couldn't find anything wrong.

Three days after the tests Rose got a message from dr. McGill, that she is needed in his office. When she got there, Mickey, Jake, Jackie and Pete were already there.

"What's going on?" she asked, confused why the others were there.

"I think I know what's going on with you," informed her Alan.

"And?" she inquired.

"It looks like you slowly cease to exist. Everybody's memories are disappearing about you, and even you started to forget yourself."

"Ok. I already knew that. The quiestion is, how are we gonna turn everything back to normal?" she asked, not bothering to hid the panic in her voice.

"We can't."


	2. Equilibrum

Equilibrum

"What do you mean we can't?" asked Jackie, shocked by the news. "Why not?"

"We can't do anything, because what's happening is natural," Dr. McGill started to explain, but he was rudely cut off by Pete.

"Natural? How can you say that there is no problem with my eldest daughter slowly disappearing?" yelled the Tyler patriarch.

"Maybe it's not natural for you, Pete, but for the universe it is," continued Alan, who was still calm, despite being shouted at. "And you'll understand what I mean if you let me explain it, without interruption."

"Ok, doc," said Jake, before any of the others could disagree.

"Right." He took a deep breath, then asked, "Have either of you ever heard of the Equilibrum-theory?" When everybody shook their heads, he continued. "It's a fairly new theory, a little more than five years old. Even before the Cybermen travelled to the other universe, scientists were making up theories about the parallel worlds. There have been several ideas about their number and nature; the one we are talking about is about their effect on the ones who travel between them."

"Like Rose, Jackie and me," chimed in Mickey.

"Yes, and no. You'll understand everything at the end, so please don't interrupt me again," scolded Alan, then turned back to the others. "As I said, it was about the effects. The theory itself is very complex, but I'll try to explain it. You see, the the whole universe, or rather the alternate worlds in it are in balance. It's not an immobile state, it's a dynamic balance. It means that you can move things – or people - from one world to another, but you have to make sure that the thing has a place to go. If it doesn't, it'll act as added weight on scales. One side will be heavier than the other, disrupting the balance."

"Is there any point to this metaphor? If there is, I'd like to see it," snapped Pete. "Because so far I haven't understood why I'm forgetting my own kid. Does this mean that I'll forget my wife too?"

"Calm down, darling, "soothed Jackie, then motioned for Alan to continue.

"The point is that Rose is an added weight in this universe. She doesn't have a place in it, because her alternate self never existed. And unlike the scales, the universe is able to correct itself. It's trying to rid itself of Rose, by slowly erasing her whole existence."

"But what about Mickey and Jackie?"asked Jake, the voice of reason in the moment. The others were too shocked to speak.

"They took over Rickey's and the late Jackie's places. The universe accepted them into this world, made them a part of it. That's why they're forgetting Rose too. I'm sure that in a couple of months, maybe a year you won't remember your old lives."

"You mean, I'll become Rickey?" spoke up Mickey, and Alan nodded in reply.

"And what will happen to me?" asked Rose, speaking for the first time since the revelation.

"I've never met anybody who had the same problem, so I don't have any answer to that. I'm sorry," answered Alan.

"Not even a crazy theory?" she pushed, trying to understand what was to come. When McGill didn't reply, she continued, "Well?"

"I do have a theory, but it's not a pleasant one. I consulted with Dr. Raines, and she agreed with me. You mentioned that you're experiencing some kind of black-outs during the days. That you don't realize that you're doing something. Is that correct?"

"It is," nodded Rose.

"Dr. Raines and I think that it might be one of the effects too. You're losing 'only' your memories now, later it will be your personality and mind. Practically everything you've ever been."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm saying that the essence of you is getting erased. Most likely, in a couple of months there will be only a shell that was once Rose Tyler."

"Is there any other possibility?" cut in Mickey.

"Nobody knows the exact structure of the human mind. She might develop a split personality during the next months, but the end is the same."

"I'm going crazy, then I die," summed up Rose.

"In a few words, yes."

"That's it? I'll have to watch my daughter losing her mind and dying, and I can't do anything? You can't do anything?" asked Jackie, tears streaming down her face as her calm facade fell. The others hung their heads, not knowing what to say.

"You won't have to watch it, because when she reaches that stage, you won't remember her at all. I'm sorry." And with that he stood up and left the room. He was really devastated that he didn't have a solution. A solution that'd save that energetic, brilliant girl from fading away.

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The following weeks were terrible for the Tyler family. The parents were trying everything in their power to stop forgetting, with little success. They were using post-it notes and other reminders to make sure they remembered. But they rarely worked.

Rose on the other hand was strangely calm. It looked like she'd given up every hope; she became the person she was after Bad Wolf Bay. She stopped telling her family what was going on with her. They didn't know that for three weeks Rose had been taking medicines. The pills' original purpose was to help people with mental illnesses to stay lucid. In her case they were taken to stop her episodes. She got Dr. Raines to prescribe them after she'd learnt what she did during the ten minutes she forgot one day –she went up to strangers, rambling about scars in the sky and red beasts. She was actually happy that her co-workers forgot her act.

Four weeks after their last meeting Rose was sitting in Alan's office again. In the note she got there was only one sentence. 'I found the cure!'. Rose immediately rushed down, and now was waiting for the scientist to come back from his other meeting.

The place was a mess. There were papers scattered on the desk, notes on the boards and walls. Rose could tell that they were about the same object. A retangular device with a lot of buttons, and a mirror like thing in its centre.

She jumped slightly when Alan burst into the room. He was panting, a clear sign that he was running to get to Rose. She stood up, and made her way towards the mini fridge the man had in his office. She took a bottle of water out, and offered it to the panting doctor.

"Thanks," he said, then took a sip. After his heartbeat returned to normal, he sat behind his desk, and motioned for Rose, encouraging her to take her former position.

"You sent me a letter..." said Rose, not daring to hope.

"Yes, I did," smiled Alan, looking more relaxed than a month earlier.

"And?"

"I found a solution. You'll probably like it, your mother surely won't. In fact, we should wait for her and your father to arrive."

In the moment he said it, the elder Tylers rushed in.

"What happened?" asked Jackie. "You said you found a cure, and we should come immediately. What was that about?" Then she noticed Rose, and asked, "Who are you?"

Alan looked at the girl in question, who sighed and said quietly, but loud enough for McGill to hear, "She doesn't remember, not even when I remind her. She is the old Jackie."

"I'm sorry. In that case, I apologize, I didn't want to drag you here for nothing, Jackie," he said. The elder woman huffed and stalked out of the room.. Alan turned to Pete. "What about you?"

"I still have vague memories, and I have this journal." He held it up. "I wrote everything, including a memo that I'll probably not remember any of this. Some of this already feels like a sci-fi novel," he said sadly.

"What about Mickey and Jake?"

"They're the same as Jackie," answered Pete. "You mentioned a solution."

"Yes. About three weeks ago one of the teams found an old, presumably alien altar and more texts at the same place we found the text you were working on. We managed to translate them a week ago. They were telling about a race that was above others not just technically, but culturally as well. They also say that the race existed outside time and space; that means they existed in only one dimension."

"Time Lords," breathed Rose.

"Yes. The texts mention that they could cross into other dimensions, through an exact spot in time and space, without damaging the fabric of the universe."

"But it was only possible when the other Time Lords were around. Now there is only one."

"I know you're impatient, but please let me finish," answered Alan, and Rose nodded. "I said the text was about the Time Lords, not that they wrote it. The authors were the draycons. They copied other races' technology, creating a device that could substitute the power of the Time Lords. This device." He held up the picture of the object Rose studied earlier.

"And what does that mean?" asked Pete.

"I have a theory. This universe is trying to erase Rose. If we don't want it to happen, we have to send Rose back to the one she was born in. She has a place there. I think that her mental problems would disappear too."

"So, how can I go through without destroying two universes?" asked Rose, relieved that she might survive this situation. Sure, she didn't want to leave her family behind – that's why she wasn't searching for a way to go home before - but now that everybody seemed to forget her, she had no reason to stay; she'd just die alone.

"Through the Rift in Cardiff, with this Void-manipulator."

"When should I go?" she asked, without hesitation.

"The sooner the better," answered Alan. "Before I forget you, too. The only reason I remember you at all is that I have a journal like Pete does. I've been writing in it for years."

"And how will we get the senior staff to give us the manipulator?" inquired Pete. "I doubt they will let us walk in and take it."

"That won't be a problem. I've already arranged an explosion in the labs. We'll have the device in two hours."

"Explosion," repeated Pete, shocked.

"Nobody will be hurt. It'll happen during the lunch break. The device will react badly to a scan we're doing on it. It will explode, nothing will remain. Nobody will notice that I took it," smiled Alan.

"I don't want to seem ungrateful, but why are you doing this?" asked Rose.

"Do you remember your first job?" When she shook her head, he explained, "An alien weapon was brought in, with a manual. Of course we started working without translating it first. We found out too late that it was a biological weapon. We got infected. You were the only one who had the brains to pick up the manual and read it. The cure was there. You saved our life. I'm only repaying my debt."

"Thank you." "Thank you," said Pete and Rose at the same time.

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Eight hours later the three of them arrived in Cardiff. Rose and Alan knew that the Rift's weakest point was above Torchwood Three's hub. As the workers there would surely recognise Pete and Alan, they agreed that Rose should go alone. They said goodbye, Alan checked that Rose remembered the things she had to do. Both men hugged her. Pete and Rose were crying. Although they had spent only five years together, it was great for both of them. Pete had the daughter he always wanted, and Rose finally met the father she'd heard about, but never knew. Then they parted, forever.

Rose made her way towards the Millennium center. She knew she had to act fast, because the agents beneath her could see her through the security cameras.

In a couple of minutes she arrived at the spot where the TARDIS once stood in the other universe. She adjusted the bag on her back, then took the device out of her pocket. She started to push the correct buttons, then concentrated on her home-world as Alan instructed. From the corner of her eye she saw five armed figures running towards her, but right before they could reach her, the device activated, taking her away.

The journey was horrible. It only lasted for five seconds, but it felt like hours. Rose thought that's what she would feel if the Doctor tied her to the door of the TARDIS, and dragged her through the vortex. It was a hundred times worse than a hangover.

She slowly realized that she was lying on the pavement. She managed to get up without falling over; her legs felt like they were made of jelly. She looked around, and recognised the place she daparted from. Only it was a more run-down version. It looked like an explosion had torn the place apart.

She assumed that it was night, maybe 11 pm, because it was so dark. But when she checked the clock on the top of the center, she found it intact. It said it was only three in the afternoon. She looked around again, trying to find the reason for the darkness. She didn't have to search for a long time.

A huge scar in the sky was blocking the rays of the Sun.


	3. welcome to the end of the world

Welcome to the end of the world

Rose was staring. The tear on the horizont looked exactly like the one she caused when she altered the timeline back in 1987. She quickly looked around for the third time, this time scanning the place for reapers. When she didn't see any, she felt incredibly relieved. While she met and fought a lot of aliens, she always feared the reapers the most —more than the Daleks and Cybermen, and that said something.

When she realized that she was still in the middle of the square, her Torchwood training immediately kicked in. She cursed herself that she forgot that she was practically sitting duck for any hostile being that might want to shoot, eat, exterminate or delete her. She started to walk towards the safest place she knew in Cardiff —Torchwood Three. She prayed that it existed here.

When she started to work for the Institute in the parallel world, she spent her first year in Cardiff. She worked under Suzie Costello, who died earlier that year, due to an experiment that ended in an explosion. The other two agents were Owen Harper and Toshiko Sato, the doctor and the computer genius. Their fourth member, Ianto Jones, was one of the soldiers who crossed the void to stop the cybermen from invading her world. He never came back.

When she reached the little shop that covered the Hub's door, she tried to open the gate with the code she used in the other universe. To her relief, the computer accepted it, and the door opened. She stepped in, then shrugged down her bag and jacket, and put them down near the door. She descended on the stairs, towards the computers. She wanted to know what caused the city to look like Hiroshima after the nuke.

She was about to turn on the computer, when she felt a gun pressing to the back of her head. Then a familiar voice spoke,

"Step away from the table, and raise your hands above your head!" it commanded, and Rose did as she was told. "Good. Now turn around, slowly!" She followed the orders, and came face to face with Gwyneth. Or rather with a woman, who looked like the maid from the XIX. century.

"Who are you?" asked the look-a-like.

"I'm Lily," she answered, saying the first name she could think of. Then glanced at the calendar on the wall. It was July, 2008. More than two years after Canary Wharf.

"And what are you doing here, Lily?" a second voice asked. Owen Harper came up behind the woman, with a gun in his hand and a frown on his face.

"I was looking for a safe place?" she half-asked, not sure what to say.

"Oh, really? That's sweet. But tell me something? How do we know that you're telling the truth? You could be a sidekick of the Master, too. Maybe the Toclafanes are already on their way here," he snarled, then turned to two people behind his back. "I say we shoot her. It's safer for everyone in the safehouse."

Rose didn't hear the last sentence. Her mind could only focus on the name he said. The Master. The Doctor often talked about his arch enemy and about the things he did. But he also said, that the Master was dead. Died before the Time War. But if the man was the one to cause the destruction, that meant the Doctor was wrong. There was another Time Lord in existence. How could he miss that?

She snapped out of her musings when the Owen clicked his fingers in the front of her face.

"I asked you something," he snapped.

"Owen! Don't be a jerk," scolded Gwen, then turned back to Rose. "Everything alright?"

"Gwen, don't be daft. We don't even know who she is. So stop this worrying," he said the last word with disgust.

"Yeah, I just zoned out a little. Long day," answered Rose, ignoring Owen.

"So, what are you doing here, and how did you get in?"

Rose hesitated, unsure what to say. But then she looked up, and noticed someone who she could rely on. Or so she hoped.

"I'm from London. I was working for Torchwood One until the incident with the ghosts," she answered, but when they didn't seem to buy her story, she continued, "I came, because I hoped that at least one branch is still intact. I got in with the emergency code I got when I was in London."

"Yeah, right," snorted Owen. "There is no emergency code. We'd know about it."

"Yes, there is. Ask Ianto."

Gwen, Toshiko and Owen looked at the tea-boy, waiting for an answer. But the man was just staring at Rose, trying to figure out if he should know her from somewhere.

"You're trying to remember who I am, aren't you?" asked Rose the confused man.

"Yes. You're familiar, but I can't remember," he answered, trying to cover up his lack of knowledge.

"When the cybermen came, we were both under the command of Pete Tyler," she said, emphasizing her father's name. That had the desired effect, the man paled dramatically. That gave Rose the evidence she was looking for. She saw this world's Ianto die by the hands of the cybermen, so this one could only be the one from Pete's world. Fortunately Ianto understood that she was from the parallel world too, and quickly caught on. He must've been realized that she could ensure an uncomfortable situation for him by mentioning this world's dead Ianto Jones.

"Yes, I remember now. You were partnered with Rickey Smith and Jake Simmonds," he answered, realising who she was. Not Lily, but Rose. The blonde that had the guts to piss off the Daleks with insulting their Emperor. Then he turned to the others. "She's telling the truth. And the codes really do exist," he lied.

The other three seemed hesitant, but when Ianto went to get her stuff they lowered their guns. The fact that Ianto trusted her was enough for them. Rose jumped a little when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but quickly calmed down. It was only Ianto, who then steered her towards a door, on the other side of the hub. When it opened —after entering a password- Rose saw that it was leading to a tight tunnel. Owen lead the way through it, followed by Tosh, Gwen, and lastly by Rose and Ianto. The walk wasn't extremely long, maybe eight minuutes after their departure they arrived to another door. A password was entered again.

When they stepped through the door, Rose immediately knew, that this was the safehouse Owen was talking about. The door was connected to the basement. Even in this cold and damp room there were sleeping bags scattered on the floor, literally everywhere. As they moved to reach the stairs, they had to be careful not to step on anyone. After Owen opened the door at the top of the stairs, Rose saw that it lead to the kitchen. She could see the living room from there; it was no better than the basement.

She felt a hand on her shoulder again. She let Ianto lead her to a relatvely empty corner, no doubt he wanted to know how did she end up here. She sat down on her bag, as there were no carpets on the floor, and it seemed cold. Ianto asked if she want a cup of coffe. When she said yes, he went back to the kitchen, leaving Rose to take in the sight.

There were about twenty people in the room, the eldest looked thirty years old. Their clothes were worn, their eyes were empty. A lot of them were just staring into nothing; it was obvious that they were grieving.

After a couple of minutes Ianto came back, and handed her a mug of streaming coffee.

"Thanks," said Rose. Ianto was staring at her again, like he didn't know what to ask first. Rose took pity on him. "What do you want to hear about? I can tell you about parallel Cardiff and London, if you want me," she offered.

"Cardiff. What about Cardiff?"

"Suzie is dead. She was trying to figure out how to make a resurrection-glove work. It exploded. The replacement was some Carl Montgomery. He lasted for two months. He angered weevils. The idiot."

"Says the girl who insulted Daleks," quipped Ianto.

"Yeah, that's me. Back to the story. After Montgomery's death they put Owen in charge, Tosh is second. They got three new members, but I don't know them." Then she took a deep breath and blurted out,"You're listed dead back there."

"What?"

"After you failed to go back, they assumed you were killed. Mostly because the radios worked and you didn't check in after the Daleks were let out." As she was talking, a memory came up. A projection of a man telling her that she was presumed dead.

"Oh. I lost it when we attacked the Daleks," he said. "And how is it going in London?"

"Same old everything. I was a linguist there. The boss wanted to give me promotion."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Have you ever heard of the Equilibrum-theory?" she asked. Ianto winced in reply, he heard about it. "That's why. I was disappearing. I was going crazy, so Alan came up with this plan. He thought that sending me back would solve everything."

"The good old McG? Still a slavedriver?" At Rose's nod he continued, "He can solve practically everything," smiled Ianto, and Rose nodded again.

"Ok, my turn. What's going on here. Who is this Master bloke, and what in hell's name are the Toclafanes," she asked, not revealing the fact, that she knew there is no race called that.

"The Master showed up eighteen months months before this all started. He was posing as a politician named Harold Saxon. He was elected and became prime minister. Maybe three days later he was interviewed, and then he exclaimed that he made contact with the Toclafanes. The president of the USA got really mad, because his country has some deal that it's their right to make the first contact. The president came, boarded the Valiant, then was killed by Saxon's little friends. Then he released them all, and the 10 of the humans was killed. We were out of the country then, but when we arrived back, we set up this house."

"God," was the only thing she could say.

"Yeah," he agreed.

They couldn't continue the conversation, because Toshiko and Gwen ran into the room. Tosh was speaking to the other people in the room, while Gwen headed over to them. When she arrived, she asked Rose.

"Can you handle a gun?"

"Yes I can. Why?" she asked when Gwen handed her a sonic blaster, like the one Jack always carried with him.

"The little buggers are attacking again. We have to defend ourselves if they find a way in," she answered, then added, "And it would be good if we could capture one."

Three minutes later the aliens arrived. They were coming from the direction of the scar, and destroyed everything in their way. They scanned the houses, one by one, searching for any sign of life. After they finished the other houses on the street, they headed towards them. The Torchwood agents aimed their guns at the flying things. While the house was cloaked —the Toclafanes could't pick up life signs-, they couldn't be careful enough. Lives depended on them.

Rose was terrified. For the first time in her life she didn't know the things she was fighting, and this time there was no Doctor to hold her hand and to tell her what to do. In the last five years the knowledge she inherited from the TARDIS comforted her, but it was gone now. She had to fight this battle without any help, and for the first time in a long time Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth was truly scared.

When the aliens finally left, Rose let out the breath she was holding. When she looked down at her hands, she noticed that they were shaking. Unfortunately she wasn't the only one who decided to look that direction. Owen was staring at her, his previous suspicious glances were back. He whispered something to Toshiko, who glanced at her too. Then instead of lowering their guns, they aimed them at her again.

"So you're a Torchwood agent? Then why do you shake like it was the first time you held a gun?" asked Owen.

"I was a linguist you idiot," snapped Rose. "My job was to translate and dechiper alien texts and messages. The only times I was holding a gun was when I had to do the yearly tests."

"Oh, sorry," muttered Tosh, as she and Owen put their weapons away.

"That'll teach you to ask first," said Gwen to Owen, gleefully.

After they made sure that the aliens are truly gone, they made their way back to the house. Ianto quickly caught up with Rose, she had no doubt, that he wanted to continue the conversation. She really didn't feel like talking, so she turned to him.

"Look. I will tell you everything you want to know, but now I'm worn out. My last nine weeks were hell. I was disappearing and going mad. An hour ago I crossed from one world to another, and I had guns pointed at me two times."

"I was just going to show you where you can sleep," he said in return, smiling.

"Oh. Sorry then," she apologized, then realised something. "Do the people have enough medicine at the safehouse?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"What are the chances that my pills are still there where I left them?"

"Where is 'there'?"

"In my bag," she answered.

"Then I'm not sure. What kind of pills do you have?"

"The ones you have to take when you're crazy. Or to be more specific, have multiple personalities."

"You have..," he trailed off.

"Yup. The other universe erased parts of me. My mind fought it. Hence the other me," she tried to joke.

"Are you dangerous when you're low on the meds?" he asked, worried for the others. If the answer was yes, she was a liability. She could put all of them in danger. Owen would surely try to kick her out, and he wasn't sure that the others would disagree. He couldn't blame them, the last months taught them a lesson. Only the strongest survives.

"No. I'm just sprouting off insanities. In the parallel world I was going up to my co-workers and rambled about monsters. I'm just very annoying then," she answered.

"How good are you in your job?" he asked out of blue, and Rose noticed that he lead her to a quiet corner where a sleeping bag and her bag lay. Her new home.

"I'm the best. Give me a text in any language, and I give you a translation in a few hours. Why?"

"Does your illness interfere with your work?"

"No. I was often working during my episodes," she replied, now really courious why he was asking these questions. He soon gave her the answer she wanted.

"Congratulation. You've just become our new insane genius."

Doctor Who and its accoutrements are the property


	4. the stuff of legends

Chapter four — the stuff of legends

"You're crazy," she stated.

"I'm not. That's you," answered Ianto teasingly. He wondered what would happen if Jack heard that sentence. He would have realized that Ianto had a teasing side too. Right after that he would've died of shock, then came back to make dirty jokes about it. Secretly Ianto Jones, the explosive expert and second in command of parallel-Torchwood Three has always loved those comments. But Ianto Jones, general support, was an other question. He was punctual, well-behaved, and anal. The teaboy was the mask Ianto wore to keep his secret safe.

"You can't tell them about my problem. Owen'd probably shoot me," she exclaimed.

"But you can't keep it a secret. You might endanger us. We have to be ready if something happens to you," argued back Ianto.

"Then I'll tell them when I'm ready. Look, it won't happen soon. I have enough pills for a couple of months."

"Weren't you the one who asked about medicine stealing? Well, I haven't answered yet. And I don't think I'll have to. Just check your bag," he ordered.

Rose did as she was told, and opened her bag. She dug into the little pocket on its bottom, searching for her pills. She found nothing. Somebody's already stolen them. She straightened up, and looked at Ianto. She realized that she had no choice, so she reluctantly agreed to Ianto's plan. She also asked him to tell the team instead of her. Ianto nodded then left.

Five minutes later she saw Gwen hurrying into the room, towards her. Rose had a guess what she wanted to talk about.

"Hi Lily," greeted her the other woman and Rose felt guilty for lying. Then she shook the feeling off, preparing herself for a long 'I feel with you' speech. But to her suprise there were no pity or fake sympathie in her eyes. She still looked at her as an equal.

"Ianto told us about you. I wanted to say that I'm sorry, and that you can come to me if you need anything."

"Thanks," answered Rose, still feeling a little wary. A few hours ago this woman was pressing a gun into her skull, now she was making friends.

"Now you're thinking 'what the hell does she want? She almost killed me a few hours ago'," she smiled knowingly.

"Are you a psychic or something," she asked, "or am I that transparent?"

"No, but if I were you I'd think the same," replied Gwen. "Anyway I came to tell you, that if you're bored, we have a couple of writings you could try to translate. We found them in the Himalayas six months ago." And without another word she started to walk away.

"I'd like that. And Gwen?" she called after her, and the woman looked back at her. "Thanks for not treating me as an invalid."

"You're welcome."

MW-MW-MW-MW-MW-MW

Rose was getting annoyed. She's been sitting at the desk in the kitchen for an hour now, trying to understand the text. It was written in the same style as her last work in the parallel universe. When she departed, she packed up that script's copy, and now she was grateful for that.

She was trying to find other similarities between the two texts, beside the style. So far, she found a couple. She had no doubt, that the same person —or being- wrote both. The only big difference was the thing it was written on. The first was carved into stone, the new one was on a copper table.

But doesn't matter how hard she was trying, she couldn't understand four things.

One: both of the texts contained a strange symbol. They were in their left corners. She's never seen any language like this. She suspected that it might be an artificial language, that's why she couldn't understand. Somehow they didn't belong anywhere, they weren't the natural part of time and history.

Two: how were the artefacts made. One was carved into stone, the other into copper, but it looked like, that with the help of a laser.

Three: why did the aliens left their writings in two different worlds.

Four: how could the writer hide that damned code so well. There had to be one, there was no way that a sentinent being would waste time with sending fairitales to different universes.

After two more hours of struggling and trying out different code-patterns, she gave up. She brought the text back to Gwen, along with her translation. When she arrived to the door of the attic —which housed Tosh's and Owen's necessary equipments- she heard them arguing inside. Rose hoped it wasn't about her. She opened the door a little, trying to find out what the argument was about. In other words she was snooping.

"We can't give up the search. Not yet!" That was Gwen.

"Why not? He took off almost a year ago, not dissappeared. We have better things to do. Namely to survive," shouted back Owen.

"But he is our boss. Our friend," yelled Gwen.

"We understand what you feel, we want to find him too. But we have to face the facts. As Owen said, it was more than a year ago. Even if he is in the country, he's probably hiding, or dead. We can't do anything for him. But we can save the people here," tried to soothe her Tosh.

"But...but he would search for us," said Gwen, slightly sobbing.

"We tried, Gwen. We even climbed those bloody mountains. But we have to concentrate on our job now. Jack'd want us to save as many people as we can," said Owen, in a suprisingly soft voice.

Rose didn't know who they were talking about, but she automatically thought of her Jack. She often tried to find out what happened to him, but she couldn't find him. Thanks to the Time Vortex, usually she could find anybody she wanted, when- and wherever they were in time and space. But Jack just disappeared.

Fortunately she came out of her thoughts when the voices from inside died down. She quietly closed the door, then knocked. Ianto answered it, suprised to see Rose there.

"Hi. What are you doing here?"

"I translated the script Gwen gave me." Seeing the man's confused face, she added, "The one you brought back from Asia."

"Ah. Come in."

Gwen looked up when she entered the room, then her expression changed when she realized why Rose's come. She was shocked that Rose finished her work so quickly.

"You're already finished?" she asked.

"Yeah, I am."

"Wow. You're really good. And what are they about?" asked Tosh.

Rose gave a copy of the papers to her. She looked over it, then frowned. "Lily, are you sure it's the good translation? It sounds like and eight year old druggie wrote it," she asked.

"I'm sure. In Torchwood One I encountered another text like this."

"But it's talking about immortals, caged gods and restless wanderers. It's like a tale for children. The good wins, the bad falls..."

"I know. The other script was about scarred skies and devouring monsters...," she trailed off, and looked at the others. They all came to the same conclusion.

"Doesn't it sound like our situation?" asked Tosh.

"But it's about two thousand years old," spoke up Gwen, calmer then minutes earlier. "How could have they known about the events in the 21th century England?"

"They couldn't. Unless it's some kind of.." answered Tosh, but was cut off by Owen.

"You can't mean that it's a...You're joking, right?"  
When he received no answer, he continued, "You're a scientist for God's sake. You can't believe it's a..a..."

"...a.prophecy?" finished Ianto, then after a pause he said, "Let's believe it is. I say we go over the whole text, including the one Lily found in London and search for more similarities."

The others nodded, sat down and got ready for the session. Then they looked at Ianto, silently asking him to start. He did. For a moment Rose could see the second in command he was in the parallel world, behind the mask of the always neat teaboy.

"Well, if it's really a prophecy, I have a guess who the immortal is," started Ianto, and Rose was snapped out of her musings.

"What are you talking about? You know an immortal?" asked Rose, hoping that they meant the Doctor.

The others looked at each other, then nodded in unision. Rose felt like an entire conversation passed between them.

"Our boss, Jack. He... can't die," explained Gwen, stuttering over the can't die part. "He went missing a year ago, as you might have heard while you were standing outside."

"Sorry. I didn't meant to eavesdrop."

"Anyways as Ianto said, if it's a prophecy, then he might be the immortal."

"So he's the slayer of the..." she checked her copy, "the Great Devourer?"

"Abbaddon. It was before the last time we saw him. He died while killing the beast, came back, then disappeared."

"I'm sorry," she said, then asked, "What was his name, again?"

"Jack Harkness," answered Toshiko, and the name made the blood run cold in Rose's veins.

"Jack Harkness?" she stuttered. "As in Captain Jack Harkness," the others nodded, confused that the new girl knows their boss, "Jack Flash, the omnisexual captain of the Innuendo Squad?"

"Well, I've never heard the last one, but it fits him," said Owen, amused despite the recent events. "If this helps, he's tall, has black hair and blue eyes."

Rose was speechless. The Jack they were talking about was actually her captain. Suddenly she had an idea who the caged god might be. She knew that the Doctor would've done something to save Earth, and the only thing that could've stopped him was death or capture.

"You're her," whispered Gwen, suddenly enlightened by the outburst of the younger woman. "The girl on the picture." She turned to the others and said, "There is a picture on his desk about him, a blonde teenager and a tall man in leather jacket."

"Is there a council estate in the background?" Gwen nodded. "Then it's me," she sighed, "Oh, God. I thought he was dead."

"Believe me, he isn't. And probably won't be in the near future," commented Owen.

Before Tosh could make a snarky comment about Owen's insensibility, Ianto quickly spoke up, rather loud, "You know, while the whole reunion thing is very nice, could we concentrate on the real problem? Namely the texts?"

The members of the Cardiff-branch were taken aback. They've never heard Ianto raise his voice or take command like he did in the last ten minutes. He was always quiet and reserved. They didn't know what cause the change, but all of them suspected that it had something to do with the new girl.

"That's a good idea," agreed Owen. "So, Lily, you said you have another text. Could you tell us what it is about?"

"It's the same style as the asian one. The first part talks about a red monster tearing the sky open. The second one is about the red monster holding a gate open to let its children/minions to devour Earth."

"Okay. The part about the scar and the minions are correct. But what's the red beast?"

"It might be some kind of time-manipulating device," deducted Rose, and an idea was forming in her head.

"Why do you think that?" asked Tosh.

"I read an article about paradoxes in time and space. It said that the creation of a paradox somehow rips the fabric of the universe, hence the scar," she lied. She wasn't ready to tell them about her encounter with reapers.

"But in that case the paradox ends the world," argued Tosh, the only one that could understand what she was talking about.

"Not if said time-thing keeps it going somehow. Like a paradox-machine. And that could explain the prophecy too."

"What do you mean?" asked Gwen.

"We've just assumed that the texts were written by somebody who lived in that age. But what if the writings are paradoxes too? I mean, by the looks of it, the scar is the original paradox. What if somebody, maybe a time traveller, created a second one —a paradox in a paradox. It wouldn't affect either the original one, or the world."

"So it might be a warning from someone who was from our time and knew the orignal texts," deducted Ianto.

"Yep. Somebody who knows the original script, sent or will send it back in time to the places we've found them at," finished Rose.

"It might be an accident too," spoke up Owen, causing the others to look at him. "We're sitting on a Rift in time and space..."

"That'd make sense," the computer genius agreed.

"Okay, let's move on," said Ianto, "What is the second text about?"

"The restless wanderer travelling the world, keeping the faith of the people alive, the immortal destroying the beast, while the caged god, freed by the power of the words, defeats it's master..." she was cut off by Gwen.

"The Master. Ring any bells?" she asked sarcastically.

"...and the tyrant will die by the hands of the...," continued Rose, not bothered by the input.

"By whose hand?" asked Tosh.

„Dunno," mumbled Rose, also confused, „the sentence stops here."

"So we just wait for Jack and the 'caged god' to save us and a third person to finish off the lunatic?" asked Ianto, breaking the silence.

"Looks like it," answered Rose, then changed the topic, noticing the weird looks the others were sending in Ianto's direction. "I wanted to ask you something. I found this symbol on both of the writings. Do you have any idea what it might mean? I've never seen anything like this before." And with that she showed them the sign.

"Oh, I know what to do," exclaimed Tosh, "I got hold of a new code system before we went to our little field trip."

"So can you tell me its meaning?"

"Yes, let me scan it. This might take a couple of minutes."

"No need for the program," cut her off Ianto. "I know that sign."

"Where from?" asked Rose.

Without a word the man pulled up the sleeve of his shirt, exposing a tattoo on his right forearm. It was the symbol from the texts.

Rose was going to ask if he was sure about the meaning, but was cut off by the knock on the door. Gwen called out, and a young girl stepped in.

"What happened? Is it the Toclafanes?" asked Gwen, worried.

"No. But there is a strange woman with red hair at the door. She says that her name is Donna Noble, and she knows Martha Jones."


	5. Something Bad Wolf this way comes

_„What happened? Is it the Toclafanes?"asked Gwen, worried_

„No. But there is a strange woman with red hair at the door. She says that her name is Donna Noble, and she knows Martha Jones."

* * *

_  
_Chapter five – something Bad Wolf this way comes

"Take her to the kitchen, please. We'll be down in a minute," said Ianto to the girl, then turned back to his team-mates.

"Who is this Martha Jones?" asked Rose, after the little messenger went to send up the guest, "Is she another agent?"

"She wasn't before the Toclafanes, but she might be now. It's rumored that she's working with UNIT. We heard about her from the people we managed to save too; then a couple of goverment contacts also talked about her. She is well known in the UK, on the continent, even in the USA," answered Ianto.

"Well, if goverments knows her, she might be an agent. Why is she important?" she pressed, forgetting about the symbol and the tattoo.

"The people who met her say that she has a way to destroy the Master. A weapon that kills the likes of him, permanently," said Tosh.

"Permanently?"

"The man –well, life-form- claims to be a Time Lord," she explained, "We only know about one more alien from that race. You must've heard about him."

"The Doctor," whispered Rose.

"Yes. Torchwood was following this Doctor for centuries, and we know that he is able to regenerate. To change his face when he dies. When I met him first, he was a tall man with leather jacket, big ears and a nothern accent."

"Did you all met him?" asked Rose. She knew, that if they did, her cover story was blown. The picture Gwen was talking abot when they first met, was about the ninth Doctor. They'd know that she's been a companion, not a Torchwood agent.

"No, just Toshiko," answered Owen in everybody's name, and Rose relaxed. Her secret was safe.

"So the weapon this woman has prevents the regeneration?" the others nodded, "But how does she know about Time Lords?"

"From experience. She was the Doctor's companion," Gwen answered, then walked out of the room to talk to this Donna. Owen and Tosh followed her, but Ianto stayed back. Not that Rose noticed the change.

Fortunately for her, nobody noticed that she paled. Well, nobody who didn't already know her true identity. Ianto froze for a minute, the sighed and turned to her partner-in-crime. He put two and two together. Or just remembered, Rose didn't know. He was there at Canary-warf, he saw her with the Doctor. She was his companion, then.

"Are you okay?," he asked.

"Yeah. Just a little overhelmed," she answered, honestly, "I knew he would move on. He can't mourn me forever. It's just...," she trailed off.

"..didn't stop you hoping that he would," finished her sentence Ianto knowingly.

"Yeah," she whispered, "I'm a selfish bitch, aren't I?"

"No. You're just human," he said, and pulled her into a hug, "Everything will be alright."

Rose smiled up at him, grateful for his presence. After a minute or two she stepped back and announced.

"Come on. We have a crazy redhead to see and a world to save."

Ianto laughed and followed her out.

MW-MW-MW-MW-MW-MW

The meeting with Donna was...interesting. Well, interesting isn't the best choice of word, but there is no other word that covers crazy, scary and amusing better than that.

In a few words, that woman was a nutcase. Or rather a nutcase with serious anger problems. Everybody in her five feet radius was standing close to a heavy and/or big object (desk, armchair –nobody knew who put it in the kitchen-, fridge) –so in case something happened, they could duck behind it. Fortunately they didn't need to put their training in action.

Looking back –after the initial shock wore off- everybody laughed at the womans antics. They joked about it, then agreed that none of them wanted to meet Ms. Noble again. Ever. But they weren't that lucky.

_Flashback_

The five of them were in the kitchen, patiently waiting for Donna to finish the tea she demanded in the moment she set a foot in the safehouse. After she finished, she set the mug down, looked around, leaned back in her chair and asked

"So, who's the alpha dog here?"

The agents were just staring at her like she's grown another head. When Donna announced that she was not just Martha Jones's helper, but she knew the Doctor too, they thought that she was a serious woman who was trying to save the planet. But instead of a savior they got Donna.

"So? Are you deaf or something? Mute maybe? Retarded? "she inquired.

"No. We were just thinking, that you're the perfect companion for the Doctor," deadpanned Rose, trying to buy some time for her partners –to recover from the shock. "Rude and ginger."

„Oi. I travel through half the bloody country to get here, and this is the reaction I get? A peroxide blonde teenager's insults?" exclaimed Donna, but without real anger.

„You started it," replied Rose. She took a deep breath, and was about to say more when two things happened. One: Ianto cut her off with saying that he was the boss, two:she felt awfully dizzy. Like she was spinning around for a long time. She needed to sit down.

After she sat down, she prepared herself for another episode. Fortunately she didn't drift to crazy-land immediately, so she was able to follow the conversation for a while.

_Donna was talking about the weapon, Martha's quest and the Archangel network. She said, that for some insane reason they needed to think about the Doctor on the 12th of January, 2009, at three o'clock._

Right after that Tosh asked Donna about her meeting with the Doctor. Rose perked up at the mention of him.

"The bloody martian kidnapped me from my own wedding, then fed my fiancée to a giant spider. Not that I'm that sorry for the guy. Lance was hepling the spider woman to conquer the planet, and wanted to sacrifice me to that thing."

Rose heard Owen's snicker and Gwen's chukle, then everything went black.

End of flashback

Two hours after the meeting Rose was sitting in the armchair in the kitchen, and was staring at the sky through the window. She knew she should go and ask Ianto about the tattoo, but the man was already asleep, and Rose didn't want to wake him.

She could have asked him when she was herself again, but then he was too busy laughing his ass off. Apparently during her episode Rose didn't like the term 'martian' used to describe the Doctor; she went into a long explanation about the real martians' technology, culture and appearance, then pointed out to her shocked and impressed audience that the Doctor didn't meet these expectations.

She went to get herself a cuppa. After another hour without doing something productive, just thinking, she was getting bored.

She was still bothered with the texts. She was 99 sure that a time traveller –any race, not just humans- placed both writings. They wanted Torchwood to find them. The only thing she couldn't figure out was the way these artefacts were created. Answering this question would tell them who created them.

She already knew, that whoever created them, placed the writings in different world on purpose. They wanted Rose to find the first, and the team the second. The time traveller(s) obviously knew that Rose'd came back to her world and meet the others. Whatever this riddle was, she had a part in it, but she didn't know what it was. Yet.

For a moment her mind drifted to another paradox she was a part of. The Bad Wolf. She thought about the possibility, that this situation could be linked to that, but she quickly dismissed the thought. She hasn't seen anything related to the Bad Wolf for six years, there were no messages.

After her little brainstorm she decided that it was time to work on something she could figure out. Namely the texts.

Not many agents knew that the alien races liked to brand their own creations. A strange material here, a characteristic shape there. Some of them left typical marks behind. Most of them marked their work by colors too. For example the daxolian sonic gadgets had green lights, the vellian ones had red. The vogons created simple forms, the paxians' things looked like artists designed them.

Rose knew that if she figured out the tool, she'd recognise the race, so she set to work. She went to find Tosh and Gwen who were on guard that night, and asked for the passwords of the Hub. Both women were suprised at the request, but after Rose explained why she needed the codes, they gave it to her.

When she arrived to the ex-headquarters, she immediately went to the room they stored the weapons and other gadget they found in. She searched for the lasers first; she found all in five minutes. Then she went into Jack's office, and tried to open the safe that held the very dangerous items. Nobody in the team knew the passwords, only Jack, but it didn't stop her trying.

In the next twenty minutes she tried all the words, names and dates that were related to her friend. Like the place and date of his birth (she was proud that he told them to her, not even the Doctor knew these facts about their friend), the places they visited together, the people they knew, names. None of them worked. After five more minutes, she gave up.

She felt like a fool for thinking that the password might be related to the Tardis team. She admitted defeat, and slumped into the chair that was behind the desk. Jack's boss-chair. She inwardly laughed; it was weird to think about Jack as the respected and responsible leader Gwen and Tosh told her about. She leaned back in the chair, and looked at the scattered items on the desk. There were reports, little notes and reminders, a calendar and a computer. But the things that really caught Rose's attention was the picture and the 3-D glasses. Rose guessed that the glasses were the same ones the Doctor left behind after Canary-warf. The photo was the same Gwen talked about. It was about the three of them standing before Rose's home. It was Jackie who took the picture, right after the trio arrived from London, 1944.

Rose sprung out of the chair as the realisation dawned on her. She forgot to try the the date of their first meeting. She rushed back to the safe, and entered the numbers. The safe opened immediately.

She rummaged through the shelves, but didn't found anything that was useful for her current project. But that didn't mean that she didn't examine the items she found. There was a weird looking knife, two halves of an alien machine, and a glove she was already familiar with. It was the pair of the one that killed the parallel world's Suzie Costello. She put everything back to their places, and prepared to return to the safehouse. There was nothing else she'd need for her work

She was out of the room when she changed her mind, and rushed back to the desk. There was something she didn't need, but wanted to take with her. The picture. When she got trapped, she couldn't bring her stuff with her to the other world; she only brought what she had with her on that day. That meant, that she had no pictures about the Doctor, or Jack or their adventures.

She pulled the photo out of the frame, pocketed it and started to walk out again. Then she remembered another thing, and went back again. She searched the desk and the drawers, until she found what she wanted. A picture of her second Doctor. She put it in her pocket with the other one, then walked out of the room again.

This time she made it out of the hub. She walked into the tunnel, locked the door after herself and went back to the safehouse.

When she arrived back and went back to her corner –well, it wasn't really hers, but everybody knew, that it was the place she liked to work at, so when she was there, everybody moved away-, she was suprised to see not only Ianto, but Gwen and Tosh too sitting there, working. They looked up and greeted her when she approached them.

"Good morning, Lily," said Gwen, "I was about to go after you. I was worried that something happened, that's why you're late."

"Sorry, I didn't realise I stayed there so long," apologized Rose, "I was looking through the alien stuffs to find something I can work with."

"Did you," asked Tosh, "Found something, I mean?"

"Yup," she said, popping the 'p', and held up the bag she was carrying, "I brought back a couple of items, I will try them out later."

"What are you planning?" asked Ianto, joining the conversation.

"I'm trying to figure out which race carved the messages," she answered. Then she changed the topic, and asked, "And what are you three doing here? Not that you bother me or something, but don't you have a desk to work at?"

"We had, but they'd been taken over," answered Ianto.

"By who?"

"Donna. She came in an hour ago, five minutes later we came out," replied Tosh, "She just couldn't keep her mouth shut. She was annoying us on purpose, and enjoyed it."

"And where is Owen?"

"Compared to Owen, Donna is a nice catholic schoolgirl. She can't get to him with her little comments, because everytime she speaks, Owen tells her something ruder. If I didn't know better, I'd say they're flirting," snorted Tosh.

"Are you sure you know better," asked Rose with a sly grin, "From what you tell me, they're the perfect couple."

"Can you imagine what kind of children they'd have?" mused Ianto aloud.

"I'd rather not, than you," replied Tosh.

"I can," said Gwen, "And I can tell you, that if they ever procreate, the world will be doomed."

"We're already doomed," remarked Ianto with a wry grin.

"No we're not. Or did you forget that Jack's gonna save our arses?" asked back Gwen.

"Oh, yeah. The great prophecy. I can't wait for it to happen," he deadpanned.

"Oh, Ianto. Be a little more optimistic," urged him Tosh.

"I'll try," promised the man, then stood up, "I have to go. I'm on guard for the next five hours. Oh, joy," he walked away, while the women laughed.

MW-MW-MW-MW-MW-MW

A little while later Donna stormed out of their work place in the attic, so Gwen and Tosh said goodbye, and went to reclaim their desks.

In the next five hours Rose was working on the messages. While she was in the tunnel, she collected a couple of bricks. They weren't exactly like the one with the first message, but they were similar enough. She carved the words of the text into them, using the sonic and laser devices she brought back from the hub. To her irritation, none of them matched.

She knew that her chances for the success were pretty low –there were thousands of races out there with technology to create texts like the ones they found, and send them back in time. Despite the facts Rose hoped, because she knew that the race that created the messages were connected to Earth, they wanted to warn the humans about the events to come.

She put her work aside, and leaned back in the chair she borrowed from the kitchen. She pulled the pictures out of her pocket, and looked at them. She knew when and where the first was taken, but she knew nothing about the second one.

She realized soon that it was taken after Canary-warf. The first thing she noticed was that the Doctor wasn't wearing his usual brown pinstriped suit, he had a blue suit on. She didn't like it, and not just because it clashed horribly with his brown coat. She hated it, because its purpose was obvious. To move on and forget that Rose ever existed.

The second thing that caught her attention were his eyes. They were a dead man's eyes, holding no spark or emotion. Guilt welled up in her as she ralized: she did this to him. Just because she couldn't hold onto that damned lever for a minute longer. It occured to her, that the lack of spark might not be her fault –she didn't know how much time ago he lost her, maybe he was mourning for another companion-, but she didn't really believe that. Altough he never said it, Rose knew that the Doctor loved her too.

She put the picture back on her desk, but with that motion she knocked the other one to the ground. She bent down to retrieve it. After she straightened out, she noticed that there were notes written on its back.

They weren't whole sentences, just a couple of words, connected to each other with lines. For a moment she thought that at one time Jack didn't have any paper with him, so he wrote the notes on the back of the picture instead. But after reading the words, her opinion quickly changed.

Jack always knew that she'd come back. This time the messages followed him, instead of her.

She re-read the words at least fifty times before she believed what she was seeing.

Torchwood lockdown – parallel Ianto – tattoo – Rift – Rose

He connected each word with lines to the now familiar symbol he drawn. Under the sign there were two words.

Bad Wolf


	6. Identity crisis

_Jack always knew that she'd come back. This time the messages followed him, instead of her._

She re-read the words at least fifty times before she believed what she was seeing.

Torchwood lockdown – parallel Ianto – tattoo – Rift – Rose

He connected each word with lines to the now familiar symbol he drawned. Under the sign there were two words.

Bad Wolf  


* * *

Chapter six – identity crisis

Rose was staring at the paper for another minute, then she sprung out of her chair and went to find Ianto. She knew that he was on duty as a guard. She found him realtively quickly, then she managed to drag him away from his post, getting another man to replace him for the remaining time of his shift.

She pulled him into the kitchen, and closed the door.

"What's so important that couldn't wait for another ten minutes?" asked Ianto, "This way you've just drawn everybody's attention."

She ignored him, "Remember the symbol I found on the texts? You said you know the meaning," she asked, trying to sound calmer than she was feeling.

"You mean my tattoo?"

"Yes. Now tell me the meaning, please," she almost begged.

"It means bad wolf," he answered, but sounded curious. He wanted to know why she was so desperate.

"Are you sure?" she pressed, and when Ianto nodded, she asked, "Where did you get that particular symbol? Why not a...I dunno... a dragon?"

"It reminds me of Torchwood, my life at home and my reason to be here."

"Is this reason connected to a certain lockdown that happened during the fights?"

"Yeah. How did you know?" he asked, shocked that she knew. He told her that he got trapped, but he didn't tell her about the exact circumstances.

Without another word she thrust the photo into his hands. He was staring at it, he didn't understand why was the photo the answer to his question.

He was about to ask, when Rose spoke up, "Flip it over," she ordered. He did as he was told, and his breath hitched.

"He knows," he whispered.

"Yup," she said with false cheer.

"But how?" he asked back.

Rose took a deep breath and answered, "I think it's time for you to learn about the legend of the Bad Wolf."

"You make it sound like it's not just a bed time story for children," he laughed it off.

"'Cause it's not," she answered sternly, then shared with him the story of her life. She told him about her first Doctor and how she met him; Gwyneth, the slitheen, and the Gamestation. She talked about her second Doctor, Jack's 'death', and the other adventures, including the last one, Torchwood.

When she finished her story, Ianto remained oddly quiet. Rose thought that his silence is due to the shock that was caused by her revealation. But then he looked up; and it was Rose's time to stop breathing. What she saw weren't the eyes of a shocked man. They were the eyes of an angry and betrayed man.

"He's known for ages, and he didn't tell me anything. He played with me," he said quietly, more to himself.

"Played with you? Who? What do you mean?" asked Rose, confused.

"Jack... He used me to get to you. I was only his ...I don't know what. He was with me only because he thought that he'd need me to get you back," he answered so quietly, that Rose could barely hear him. But she didn't really need to hear the words, his eyes told him everything. Jack wasn't only his boss, he was Ianto's lover. And poor man just realized, that Jack might have played his feelings to get what he wanted.

Rose desperately wanted to tell him that it isn't true, but she couldn't. She wasn't sure herself. It hurt her that she had to doubt Jack, but she knew him too well. He was a flirt, who often used sex and his good looks to get what he wanted. It was the way they met; he was flirting with her, to get her to buy that spacejunk.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Ianto's bitter laugh. She looked at him, so he said, "I guess you're trying to find a way to explain his motives, but you can only come up with explanations that support my theory."

"I'm sorry" was all she said.

"Don't be. I'm the idiot that I didn't leave him after the Rift incident," he noticed Rose's curious expression, so he explained, "A little more than a year ago he and Tosh got trapped in 1944. He fell in love with somebody there. That could have tipped me off about his true feelings."

Rose felt sorry for Ianto, but this time she could relate. She could tell him that feeling the connection with someone else doesn't mean that Jack didn't love him.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked Ianto, and told him her opinion.

"Experience?" he asked back.

"Yeah," she answered, then decided to share that story with him too, "When I was travelling with the Doctor, once we ended up on a spaceship in the future. It had time-windows into the 18th century France. He went through one and met a woman. Madame de Pompadoure."

"The french whore?" asked Ianto, cutting her off.

"Yes. He fell in love with her, because they had a connection. She understood him on a level I couldn't."

"If that's your attempt to make me feel better, you failed," interrupted Ianto again. He sounded cynical, but it was better then the previous heart-broken Ianto.

"Do you want to hear my story or not," she mock scolded him. He nodded, and she continued, "He fell in love with her, but he came back to me. Because I was more important to him."

"So you're saying that Jack came back because he loved me more?" when Rose nodded, he continued, "I don't think so. I'm sure he came back to me because he thought that I was the key to you and the Doctor."

Rose sighed. She realized that she couldn't make Ianto feel better. Not today, maybe in a couple of days. The betrayal was too fresh in his mind.

Obviously Ianto was thinking the same, because he spoke up, "What about we get back on the topic of the Bad Wolf, instead of talking about my screwed-up love life."

"Ok," she agreed, then asked, "So, where did you see that symbol first."

"When we came through, killing the cybermen wasn't our only mission. I was to get to the computer room and download the files from the main computer."

"What files?"

"The ones about the aliens. Our Torchwood was founded aftre the Roswell incident. We didn't know as much about extraterresial life as you did."

"So you decided to steal the information you needed."

"Yep. So I step into the room, and the next thing I know is that I'm trapped. Turns out, those bloody machines set off the alarm that locks up the 27th floor in emergencies."

"And the mark?"

"It was carved into the door. It was the company logo of the Bad Wolf Inc.."

"So that's how Jack knew about it. How could he learnt about you?"

"He looked through all the tapes the cameras recorded. Maybe he saw my parallel version's corpse on one of them. Or me coming through," mused Ianto.

"I thought you destroyed the evidences."

"Not immediately. And the fact that Jack asked for me to be the new member of his team after only one meeting, supports my theory."

"He saw your tattoo and recognised it."

"Probably," agreed Ianto, then checked his watch and said, "I have to go now. Two man arrived at night. I have to find a place to sleep for them."

"I'll go with you. I'm bored," she said and followed him.

They both left the kitchen, not noticing Gwen standing behind the door that leads to the cellar

After they helped the newcomers to settle in, Ianto and Rose returned to the attic, Ianto still had some work to do. When they entered the room, they came face to face with the rest of the team. They immediately noticed the grave expression on their faces.

"What happened?" asked Rose.

"You tell me, Lily," answered Owen, "Or should I say Rose Tyler?"

"What do you mean?" asked Rose, feigning innocence. But the team didn't fall for it, so she gave in, "Who told you?"

"You did," replied Gwen, causing Rose and Ianto to look at her, "In the kitchen."

Realization dawned on the pair. They were reckless, and didn't check that they were alone.

"So, how much did you hear?" asked Ianto.

"Everything," answered Gwen, "Not just the part about Rose, but about you too, Ianto."

"Oh," was all he said, then, "And what are you going to do about us?" he asked.

"Nothing," answered Tosh, shocking the pair.

"What? Nothing?" they questioned.

"Nothing," confirmed Tosh, then she turned to Ianto, "You've been the part of the team for two years now. Don't be fooled. We're angry with you because you didn'trust us the way we trust you, but on a level we understand your reasons. It may take time for us to trust you fully again, but you're still a part of the team. If you want to stay, of course."

"Thanks," said Ianto, really not knowing what to say. "I'd like to stay"

Then she turned to Rose, "The same goes for you." Rose nodded in acceptance.

Owen spoke up next, "I'm not finished," When he had everybody's attention, he continued, "I want to hear a good reason. I want to hear an explanation."

Ianto and Rose shared a look, wondering if they could trust them. Ianto decided that they could, because he started to speak.

"You alredy know why I came here. That's my first reason; I didn't want to get caught while stealing top secret information. The second reason is my world. We were the ones who created the cybermen, and it's our fault that they were able to break through the Void. Practically we inflicted them on this world, because we didn't destroy them while we could. I didn't want to face Torchwood with that knowledge."

"That's a good reason," commented Gwen.

"And what about you?" nodded Owen towards Rose.

"I was the Doctor's companion. In London it was a good reason for arrest. I'm also on the cybermen-invasion's dead-list. Oh, and I'm banished from the country," she answered.

"I can fix the whole dead thing," offered Tosh.

Rose shook her head, "Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather have a new identity, if it's not too complicated."

„No. But may I ask why?" Tosh asked back. She thought, Rose'd be happy.

"Rose Tyler died in 2006. I just can't be that girl anymore. It was five years for me, I couldn't reaccomodate my old life. A new start would be easier for me," Rose answered, honestly.

"No problem. Who'd you like to be?" Tosh asked, moving to her computer.

"I kinda like Lily. But I didn't think of a surname before," said Rose, "Maybe McGill. He was the one who saved me in the alternate universe."

"It's a bad idea. He's alive in this world, it'd be suspicious. But maybe you could use McGillan..," spoke up Owen, making it clear that he accepted Rose's exuses, "It's similar, but different," then he added after a pause, "We could call you McG. Sounds good," he mused.

"That'd be good," agreed Rose, smiling.

"Ok. Give me an hour," said Tosh, and set to work.

Exactly forty-four minutes later Lily 'McG' McGillan was born.

The next six months were relatively slow. The number of the Toclafane attacs lowered, the safe-house's time was almost peaceful.

They continued to hear about the quest of Martha Jones from their contacts. Apparently the woman reached Asia, and was on her way back to the UK.

Donna left the house after three months, but not alone. Owen, Rose – now Lily- and Ianto went with her. Tosh and Gwen remained in the safehouse; Tosh, as the only computer-genius of the resistance, was priceless, so she couldn't go to a quest. Gwen reamined with her as protection.

During the six months they traveled the country, and helped the people where they could. Every once in a while they found a new text, and sometimes it led them to the new places. It was like a play of tag they couldn't win. During their journey they managed to capture a Toclafane, and after examining its weapons, Rose discovered that the messages were all created by toclafane lasers. With that information in her hands she was able to create exact replicas. Her time-travelling theory was also confirmed, when after carving the symbol of the Bad Wolf into the texts they, were all engulfed in balls of golden light and disappeared.

They became their own legend among the people, as they tried to help to everybody they met on their journey. Some would've said that what they were doing was pointless, and sometimes they agreed. The resistance didn't have the weapons or the man power the Master had, they were fighting a lost battle.

In the January of 2008 everything changed.


	7. The song of truths and lies

_They became their own legend among the people, as they tried to help to everybody they met on their journey. Some would've said that what they were doing was pointless, and sometimes they agreed. The resistance didn't have the weapons or the man power the Master had, and often they were fighting a lost battle._

In January of 2008 everything changed.  


* * *

Chapter seven – the song of truths and lies

For them, the six months felt much longer. They were always on the road, helping people, fighting the aliens, searching allies, hiding from the Master. In the beginning they tried to think to their journey as a difficult, hard and wild trip, but they abandoned that approach very soon.

The first time when they almost gave up was when they reached the first city of their journey. Everybody was dead. But the corpses weren't reduced to ashes like the other victims. No, their bodies were literally cut into tiny pieces, and the remains were left on the streets. At the first sight Donna and Rose bolted, and empties their stomatches behind a big bush. The men soon followed them.

The only thing that kept them going were the little clues they found on their way; messages that lead them to people in need. They'd help them, then go on, with a little more hope that they could win the war against the Master.

After the first month on the road they noticed that all of them changed, irreversibly. At first they were tiny things, like calling each other by first names, instead of 'teaboy', 'Noble' and 'insensitive pig'. They did't even realize these changes until Tosh pointed it out to them during a call. After that the things sped up, they learned to read each other's moods and gestures, and when January came, they were already a true, well-coordinated team.

In the second month the only one who continued to change was Rose. She became withdrawn and moody. She was spending a lot of time alone. More recently she stopped answering when someone called her Rose. Ianto didn't know if it was because of her illness, or because of the fact that everybody called her Lily when they were around other people. Not even Donna knew the truth –as much as she seemed to like the red haired ball of anger, Rose didn't want to share the story of her life with the woman.

After that he asked Owen's opinion about the subject, and the doctor theorised that it might be the effect of her lack of medicine. That explained the sudden mood swings and the more frequent episodes too. During those times she became even more moody, and was talking nonsense. She often mentioned her previous adventures, but it was clear that she thought she was still with the Doctor. Her other favourite topic was what she thought the future was –but Ianto and Owen seriously hoped it wasn't. She predicted that Ianto'd get himself captured after Owen's broken his heart. But the scariest of all was the one, when she named Donna as their hope.

In the sixth month, January they were getting close to London. It was hard enough for one man to get through the guards around the city; but it was even harder for them, because they didn't know how long Rose could go without getting into one of her moods again.

Three days before Martha Jones's deadline they managed to contact the local resistance. One of them, Tom Milligan helped them cross the board, then went to the coast to greet Martha Jones. Owen was tempted to go with him, but Ianto reminded him that they should stick together. Suprisingly Owen didn't argue.

They spent the next days at the headquarters, where they met several self-proclaimed and actual scientist and agent. There was an older woman among them, who came to greet them. She wanted to know who they were, and what were they doing in the last year.

"Hello. I'm professor Docherty," she said, "And who are you? I'm sure I have never seen you here. Where did you came from? What are you doing here?"

"Whoa. That's a lot of questions. Where's the sudden interest form? Should we be suspicious?" drawled Owen, mocking the woman's information-hunger with his own questions. He received a slap on the arm from Donna.

"Stop being rude," she scolded him.

"That's rich coming from you, Ms. Rude and Ginger," he shot back, using the nickname Rose gave her months before.

"Stop it," interrupted them Iato, then turned to the professor, „We're from Glasgow. Our HQ was destroyed three months ago I'm Ian Jacobs, the rude one is Oliver Hunters. The lady is Dana Nicholson. Our fourth member, who's not here, is Lily McGillan," he answered the questions, using the aliases they created before leaving Cardiff.

"Oh. I'm so sorry for your losses," she answered, "But really, what took you so long to get here?"

"We helped the people where we could."

Their conversation was cut off when Tom Milligan arrived back, bringing the famous Martha Jones with him.

Owen and Ianto had a strange sense of déja-vue when they looked at her. They felt the same way when they met Donna, minus the attitude problems. The woman wasn't what they expected. She was a young, twenty-something woman, she didn't look like the world's saviour. But then they remembered Donna, and the peroxide-blonde teenager-looking girl by the name of Rose, so they just accepted the woman.

A couple of hours later they were all –minus Rose- standing in the professor's lab, looking at the captured Toclafane. The Torchwood team wasn't nearly as interested in the alien as the others, given the fact that they've already seen one. But they've became interested, when they found it alive. Martha was asking questions, and Rose chose this moment to make an appearance. Ianto took a look at her, and mentally groaned. She was wearing the tell-tale signs of an episode. Her eyes were glassy, and she was walking weirdly. Like she was balancing on a rope.

She came over to stand with Ianto, who inwardly prayed that she'd stay quiet. He didn't feel like explaining the crazy girl to the others. Not to mention the fact, there was a chance that she'd blurt out the fact that she travelled with the Doctor to their present audience.

But she was just standing there, looking at the opened sphere with a sad expression on her face. For a moment Ianto felt relieved, he thought she'd have nothing to say. He was wrong.

Her voice interrupted the professor's explanation about the Toclafane weapons.

"They were desperate...There was no Utopia, no diamonds in the sky...just the darkness... Only the blackness...," she whispered, "But then He came...Gave them new hope, and only asked for one tiny little favor..."

"What is she talking about", "What does that mean? Is she working for the Master?"asked the professor and Milligan in unision. The team didn't even bat an eye, they were used to her. Martha was staring at her, like she's seen a ghost.

"What did you say?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She obviously knew what she was talking about. Her question remained unanswered, because the ...thing inside the sphere spoke up. She was horrified when she realized what the strange girl was talking out. The aliens weren't Toclafanes, they were the humans from the year 100 trillion. And the Master changed them into these monsters. She told everything she knew to the people in the room.

The sullen mood was broken when Milligan suddenly pointed his gun at Rose. He didn't move from his position, not even when the team aimed their weapons at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" bellowed Donna.

"I want to know what's going on," he calmly answered, "You lot just showed up from nowhere, with a girl who knew what these things were, even before we did. And the rest of you know way too much about goverment projects, like the Archangel and Torchwood to be the innocent victims of this bloody war," his voice was getting louder with each word.

"We're UNIT," lied Owen. He did't want to tell the truth, but knew that the man wouldn't have believed anything less than a secret agency, "We didn't tell you, because we're meant to be a secret agency."

"Then how come you know nothing about the weapon?" Milligan asked back, not believing a word.

"We're –were- the Glasgow branch, we didn't always knew what was going in London. Our area doesn't have a lot of alien activity, so London shared only the most necessary information with us," took over the explanation Ianto. It wasn't even a complete lie, this was how Torchwood One and Three treated their second branch.

"And what about the girl?"

"She's a reader," blurted out Donna, earning weird glances from the others.

"You mean a mind-reader?" asked back Martha, her voice full of disbelief, despite the things she witnessed. When Donna nodded, and –after slight hesitation- the other men confirmed it, she continued, "That sounds like something from a sci-fi."

Donna gave her a look, "You're fighting humans-turned-into-evil-flying-balls every day, not to mention that you were travelling with a ninehundred-something years old alien in time and space."

"Oh, yeah," she agreed, "But a mind-reader?" she shook her head.

"I'm not," spoke up Rose, and the team had to fight the urge to bang their heads into the desk. The others were going to believe their story, but she just had to stuff it up. "I can't look into your head."

"Then how did you know all those things?" asked the professor.

"I don't hear your thoughts, but I can hear the song," she answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What song?"

"The song of everything that was, that is and what ever could be," she whispered like it was a secret. Well, it was.

Realisation dawned on Martha, "You see the Time," she breathed in awe.

"Yes...It's always been a symphony, but now it's full of false sounds. There is a Discord now...It hurts to listen, but I can't shut it out. It forces its way into my head, and I'm burning... The Sun and the Moon... They hurt...," she said, becoming more and more histeric with every word, tears were streaming down her face.

"Discord...Paradox machine," said Martha, more to herself, understanding what the girl was talking about. The cannibalized Tardis was making her crazy with interfering with her ability to see the Vortex. She snapped out of her thoughts when the girl –Lily- grabbed her arm and started to speak.

"The red beast...," she agreed, then continued to whisper into Martha's ear, „But it'll stop soon. The Immortal will destroy the beast. The discord will disappear, like it never happened. Your job is almost done, Martha Jones. You kept the faith alive. Now it's up to the humans and the power of the words. The caged God will be able to fight the Master of the minions now."

Martha couldn't say anything, just stood there, speechless. Fortunately for her, the team managed to steer the conversation away from Lily –who was slowly calming down-, to the topic of the weapon.

The things after that sped up. All she remembered was a swirl of golden light, then the soldiers came and in less than an hour she went from resistance fighter to the prisoner of the Master.

The Master was trying to scare her with threathening her family, the Doctor and Jack. Frankly, it worked. She was little from blurting out everything he wanted to know.

As the time went, her hope seemed to grow. She still had twenty minutes 'till the right time, but she was sure the Master couldn't do anything to stop them. He still didn't know about the plan.

She was trying to come up with ideas to stop the alien from getting into her head. She knew the Doctor could do it, so it was realistic to assume that the Master could do it too.

She was looking at the Doctor now. He wasn't the man she remembered, but a tiny wrinkled creature. She briefly wondered why isn't she panicking, like she always assumed she would. But when she glanced at the Doctor again, she understood. There was a look in his eyes that calmed her. He was trusting her, and it was enough.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the sound of a fight.

She remembered Lily's words. The immortal'll destroy the red beast. The discord'll disappear, like it never happened. That means that the paradox will end soon. Strangely it comforted her, like it wasn't a crazy teenager that told her this.

The sounds were getting closer. The Master was now frantic, he was shouting at the guards, but they couldn't stop Jack and the team.

Her head shot up. The team? The last time she saw them they were engulfed in a strange light. It reminded her of the Vortex.

But now they were here. They were wearing different clothes, but there was no doubt, it was them. She saw Ian and Oliver fighting the guards, Dana aiding her mother and Lily pointing her gun on the Master. She hoped the girl was lucid enough to be trusted with a weapon. She was watching the scene with an amused expression, especially when the girl hit the Time Lord and said without keeping the fury out of her voice.

„You hurt my planet...Nobody hurts my planet."

Her attention was drawn away from the fight by the clock. It was time. The people started chanting.

At first nothing happened, but soon she felt it. Something was in the air, and it sure as hell wasn't love. It was power.

He saw the Doctor being engulfed in white light, then being returned to his normal, young form.

She was watching him, but his attention wasn't on her. He was staring at the Master, then shifted his gaze to Lily, his mouth hung open in shock.

In other situations she would've laughed at the sight. The Doctor being speechless.

But now she was curious. And happy to see him. But the feelings were soon replaced when he whispered one word.

„Rose?"


	8. I trapped myself, he crushed my heart

Chapter eight – I trapped myself, he crushed my heart...

The members of the team were staring at the spot they last saw Martha Jones. It was barely six minutes ago when they talked to her, but now she was gone. Just disappeared.

All the warning they got was the swirl of golden lights that appeared in front of them. After the shock wore off, the first thing on their mind was each other. Everybody turned and grabbed the person next to them, making sure that everybody was allright. For good five minutes they didn't even notice that the woman was gone.

"Ok. What the fuck happened?" Owen stated everybody's thought.

"I don't know. All I saw was the light," came the answer from Donna, but it was clear that nobody needed one.

"It looked and felt like the time vortex," stated Rose, and the rest of the team was looking at her, looking shocked. She noticed the looks too, "What? It did."

"It's not about that... It's just that..that you weren't...but you sound," stuttered Ianto, not knowing how to say what he wanted.

"You were acting like a lunatic in the last three weeks, but now you seem to be quite normal," helped him out Donna.

"Ever the tactful one," muttered Owen, earning a light slap on the arm from the woman.

While the duo was distracted, Ianto turned to Rose, "Well, it's not the nicest way to say, but she's right. What happened?"

"I don't know. Really don't. I remember everything, but it's like...like it was just a dream, and now I'm awake," she tried to explain, "I remember that I felt like I'm losing myself. I really thought that I was this Lily. Actually that's why I asked Tosh to create her. I was her."

Ianto was about to turn back to the others when the sound and feeling of an explosion from the outside cut him off. They all fell to the ground, the men trying to cover Rose and Donna with their own bodies. After a couple if seconds they stood up.

"Ok, I know that I'm repeating myself, but what the fuck happened," said Owen, again.

"Explosion. Must be the Toclafanes! We have to get out of here," urged them Donna, with panic in her voice.

Owen started to push them out of the room when Ianto grabbed his arm and held him back. They all turned around to look at the man, and came face to face with a deathly pale Ianto.

"Ianto? What's the matter? We really have to go," said Rose.

"No, we can't," whispered their friend, and to prove his point, he moved to lock the door of the room.

"Why not?"

"Do you really not notice it?" he asked, and when nobody moved, he continued, "Look around. We're not at the HQ anymore. Doesn't it look familiar to you, Rose? Listen to the sounds!"

Rose did as she was told, though didn't know what the man wanted. She strained her ears, and heard the sounds of a fight. She heard the people trying to escape, the screams, the sounds of the guns and metallic boots.

Then it dawned on her. The Toclafanes were flying, they didn't walk on the grounds. The only thing that emitted this sound were the,

"Cybermen," she whispered, then take a look around, "And we're in Torchwood One."

The others's gotten what she was trying to imply. They jumped straight into denial, "That can't be...It can't be the..."

"The war," finished Ianto, "But we are. Rose was right, it was the vortex. And now we're in the middle of the invasion."

"Then couldn't we do something to stop it?" asked Donna.

"No. It would cause a paradox. And without a paradox machine to make it work the reapers'd come and kill everybody who got caught in it," shook his head Ianto.

"That's why I'm sane," spoke up Rose suddenly, "We're not in the paradox right now, so the song is not jumbled up. It's normal, and isn't making me crazy. The.." she continued, but was interrupted by Owen.

"As much as I'd like to hear this story, we have bigger problems now. Namely the cyberman unit coming towards us," he said, "So I propose a vigorous jog to get the hell out of here," he continued, unconsciously echoing a sentence of the Doctor.

"You're right. This way," took over the lead Ianto, he was the most familiar withthe building.

Ianto was trying to lead them to the only place the cybermen didn't penetrate when he was there the last time. But every time they turned a corner to get to the 35th floor where the cells were, they came face to face with aliens –or rather, ex-humans. This way they were getting close to the only place they had to avoid. The 27th floor's computer room.

"Shit," he swore, "It's like they want us to go there. Everytime we rty to get away, we're forced back in the room's direction."

"Then maybe we should just go there," shruged Donna, already out of breath.

"What?" three people said in unision.

"Didn't you understand the part about the reapers?" demanded Owen.

"I did. But as you agreed, it was the Vortex that took us here. Maybe we have to go there," The others were looking at her with weird expressions on their faces. They had to admit, she made sense. But they still didn't move, not until Rose elbowed the men in the side and pointed to the writing on the wall.

Bad Wolf

"Ok," agreed Ianto, slowly, "She might be right. Come on, this way," he said, then took off in the direction of the computer room.

Three minutes and six avoided cybermen units later they arrived. The room was still empty.

"So the Daleks army is yet to be released. I only arrived here after the fight," said Ianto, trying to determine the time, "When were the first explosions?" he turned to Rose.

"About a minute after the first confrontation," she said, then couldn't fight the giggle that escaped. The others looks' implied that they thought she was off to crazy land again, so she explained, "Oi, don't look at me like that. You'd laugh too if you heard the Dalek's and the Cyberleader's first conversation."

Ianto snorted in agreement, "That was a classic. I was watching it on CCTV from Hartmann's office."

"Sounds like a bad joke, isn't it? A Dalek and a Cyberman meet in a deserted corridor..," she couldn't finish the sentence, because they both cracked up.

"Okay, I get that it's supposed to be something incredibly funny, but for God's sake, could you concentrate? We're in a tower full of cybermen. Please?" interrupted Owen.

„You're right. We do that," sobered up Ianto, but he couldn't help himself, so added, "But just because you said 'please'."

"Jerk," came the muttered reply.

"Pig."

"Asshole."

"Weevil-food."

"Teaboy."

"Okay, boys, the mudfight is over," announced Donna, who got fed up. Then she turned to Rose, and asked, "Why do you think we're here?"

"Dunno. But it's Ianto's past, so we should ask him," with that she looked at the man, "Are you up to an adult conversation now?"

"Conversation is not the only adult thing he is up for," muttered Owen, and got another smack from Donna.

Ianto glared at his team-mate for a moment, then answered, "Yes, I am," he looked around the room. He stilled for a moment, then exhaled the breath he was unconsciously holding. He took another deep breath and said, "And I think I know wh we're here? And I think I know what one of our next destination will be."

"What? What are you talking about?" asked Owen, "What do you mean next destination?"

"A couple of weeks ago Rose was raving about me trapping myself. Remember?" he asked while moving to one of the computers. The others nodded, „Well, it's happening now. There is no emergency lockdown. Yet. We're here to create the programe that'll lock me in the room when the cybermen came –will come," he continued, while tying in an incredible speed. After three minutes he was done. He drew in a shaky breath, then said, "It's finished. All I have to do is to press the enter, and I'm trapped."

"Ianto...," said Rose, but trailed off. He didn't need her to tell him that it had to be done.

The man in question shot up from the chair, pressing the button on his way.

They didn't even have the time to react before they were engulfed in the now familiar golden light.  
In the next minute they appeared in another familiar room.

"We're in the Hub," summed up the situation Donna, "But why?"

"Owen has to break my heart," spoke up Ianto. When he didn't offer any more explanation, Owen asked.

"What do you mean by that? Sorry mate, but I really don't like you that way... Ooooh. Did I just complete my task?"

"No. You have to write a message," asnwered Ianto, and the others- minus Rose- looked at him questioningly. The ex-time traveller understood his words.

"It wasn't Jack's handwriting, was it?" she asked, and when Ianto shook his head, she continued, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know at first. I was too angry to realize. The thought that it wasn't him occured to me when I looked at one of Owen's notes last week. But then we went to London, and it slipped my mind. And I just made the connection three minutes ago."

"Okay. Care to tell what's this about?" interrupted Owen.

"We have to go to Jack's office, and write a message on the back of the picture he keeps on his desk. The one about him and me and the Doctor," Rose explained, forgetting that Donna was in the room.

"What? You know that skinny martian? Whydidn't you tell me? Wh..," she demanded, but was cut off by an angry sounding voice.

"What the hell is going on here?" bellowed the unfamiliar man. Well, unfamiliar to Donna. She never had the pleasure to meet Captain Jack Harkness before, "Who the hell are you," he shouted at the woman, before he saw the others. When he turned to take a look at her companions, the Captain froze. „Ianto, Owen?" he asked, clearly shocked, "And who is that? Hello, little girl," she nodded towards Rose, who was trying to hide behind Ianto. But when she was adressed, she stepped out of her living shield and shyly said.

"Hi Jack."

The man froze again, then whispered out a shaky, "Rose? Is that really you?"

Rose started to answer, but Donna interrupted her confirmation "Rose? What the hell do you mean by Rose?! She's Lily. Isn't she?" When nobody from her team replied, and Jack looked even more confused, she continued, "Right. So she's not. And I guess, that the name Rose covers The Rose. That bride-abducting, rambling, skinny martian's 'friend' Rose," she asked, way too calmly, so the team started to edge away from her. Unfortunately Jack wasn't that good in reading the ball of anger that was Donna. He didn't have the time to duck before the woman exploded, "AND WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THAT? WE WERE TOGeTHER IN THIS SHIT FOR SIX MONTHS, AND YOU DIDN'T FEEL THE NEED TO SHARE THIS PARTICULAR INFORMATION WITH ME? GIVE ME A GOOD REASON BEFORE I SLAP YOU ALL TO THE NEXT CENTURY."

"Calm down, please. I'll explain everything, but first we have to do what we came for," tried to sothe the woman Rose.

"I don't care about that stupid thing. I traveled with you. I risked my life to help you finish off that lunatic Time Lord. I did everything to help you. So I think I bloody deserve to know the reason you lied to me," the red head answered, calmer than she was a moment before.

Rose started to answer, but she was cut off, for the second time in two minutes. But this time she was interrupted by Jack, who drew his gun and pointed it at them.

"Don't start it Jack, please. Not know," pleaded Rose, but Jack didn't listen to her.

"Hands in the air, when I can see them," he ordered, "Now tell me, who the hell are you, why did you take my friend's and..."

"..Donna's.." supplied Owen.

"...Donna's form, and why do you want to kill the Doctor," he finished.

"What?" the team asked in unision.

"I think my questions were clear."

"No. We mean 'what are you talking about'?"

"You tell me."

"Ooooh, I understand you know," spoke up Rose, realization dawning on her, "We're from the future. We won't stay here for long, we just have to write a short message to our future selves –well, to our past, but that's your future. Man, does time travel confuse everything?"

"And you expect me to believe that? Please, don't insult my intelligence. Come up with a better lie," Jack answered with a mocking tone.

"We're not lying. We're.."

"You're not lying? Then how do you explain the act, that Rose Tyler is dead. I saw the footages. She died."

"I didn't. I was saved, but,"

"Don't you dare talk about her. Tell me the truth!"

"Jack, we met in th WW II. I was hanging from the sky. You saved my life."

"I said, don't talk about her!!"

"Enough!" they were cut off by Ianto's bellow. He turned to Jack and yelled at him, "We are from the future. We came here to save the sodding word that is trapped in a paradox right now. So please get the bloody hell out of our way before I have to move you myself." Jack visibly flinched by the tone Ianto used. It really hurt him. The other's were quite used to the man's outbursts by now. Ianto noticed his expression too. He looked over his lover and after a moment he continued in a softer voice, "Okay. You're wearing jeans and T-shirt instead of your usual clothes. That means today's our first date. You plan to take me to that bar Gwen discovered yestreday."

It was enough for Jack, "Ianto?"

The man in question nodded "Please let us do our job"" he hesitated, then added, "And recton yourself later."

Jack stood frozen for another minute, but then he stepped out of the way, letting Ianto and Owen go up to his office. But when Rose made an attempt to get past him, he grabbed her arm and steered her away from the stairs, into the kitchen. Donna figured out that he was going to ask questions, so she followed them. She wanted those questions too after all.

After they settled into chairs, Jack spoke up, "How did you survive? What happened," 'Why did you leave me behind?'

"I didn't die. I was trapped in a parallel world. I have been living there for five years. But then I became the evidence of the existence of the Equilibrum theory. The only way to survive was to come back. I found a way –well, one of my co-workers did –and now I'm here."

"And what about the paradox? And the Doctor," he said his name with a slight hitch, but Rose didn't comment on it. She now suspected why the man in front of her was left behind. She was linked to the Tardis, so she felt that somehow Jack was...wrong. She felt incredibly guilty because of that, after all she was the one who changed him. She practically doomed him; got him saddled with immortality, all for the preserve of the timelines.

As Bad Wolf, she saw everything. She planned every step then, leading herself and her companions to the places they needed to be. When the power left her, the memories faded with it too. But now, as she was sitting in the Hub's kitchen, suddenly everything made sense.

Jack was to became the Face of Boe. It was his job to leave clues to the Doctor about the Master. And –altough distantly- with that he practically ensured Rose's return. Because without her paradox-induced madness, she wouln't have found a way back.

But neither of these facts made her feel better.

After the sound of a cleared throat she snapped out of her musings. She didn't even notice that her thoughts wandered. She quickly answered, "The world is trapped in it. Humans from the future has invaded and started killing off the population. A renegade Time Lord leads them. He's called the Master, but we don't know more about him."

Donna chose the slightly awkward silence to speak up, "So, would you tell me who are you?"

Rose sighed, then managed to tell the woman the short version of the last seven years of her life. It took her only two minutes, because she skipped most of the adventures. Before the end of her monologue she caught a glimpse of Ianto and Owen. They were waiting outside, giving her time to deal with her friend. Either that, or they just really didn't want to be the casualities of Donna's anger.

After she finished her story, they entered the room, and sat down near the others.

"We're done. I was right, it was Owen's handwriting," Ianto announced with some bitterness in his voice. He always thought he was open minded, but he didn't even think about giving Jack the benefit of the doubt. He just jumped into the conclusion that the Captain was the heartless bad guy.

The others seemed to sense his thoughts, because they quickly left the room –tough Rose only departed after giving Jack a kiss on the cheek, willing him to understand that she couldn't tell him anything. Not yet.

"So, why did they fled the room so quickly? Did I do something in the future –god, I hate time travel. It just messes up the tenses," he tried to joke, as an attempt to act like himself again. Because in the last ten minutes he was patethically out of character. He didn't crack any jokes, didn't make dirty comments. He wasn't himself.

"No, you didn't. I was a narrow minded idiot. Something hurt my pride, and I didn't let myself see the truth. It was easier to bame you?"

"Wow. That sounds serious. And I don't think I ever heard you talk that much. Beside that little outburst in the computer room," the older man smiled.

"Yeah, I know. But believe me, when the paradox is ended, we'll have to have a talk, and you won't like that. Then you won't want to hear me talk anymore, believe me."

"I don't think I'll ever want to shut of that pretty mouth of yours," Jack grinned wickedly, then moved and put his arm around Ianto, "Have some faith in me this time," he winked.

"Okay," smiled back Ianto, then kissed his lover (to-be). A few seconds after their lips met, Ianto, and the others outside were transported to their next destination.


	9. she gave me hope, you saved us all

Chapter 9 - ...she gave me hope, you saved us all

After the lights faded, the members of the team saw that they were in some kind of basement. There were pipes and life-support machines all around, though it seemed that nobody bothered to clean them off. There was a thick layer of dust on everything, and the only things that indicated some kind of life were the footprints on the floor.

The four looked around, then at each other.

"Okay, what happens now? I really don't rememmber being at a place like this. Do you?" spoke up Owen, "So, any idea? When, where?"

"Well, according to Rose, it's time for Donna togave us hope," answered Ianto. He continued when he noticed that the woman in question was looking at him oddly, "Don't you remember Rose's crazy ridd...," He was cut off by a quiet and absentminded voice and a pair of unseeing brown eyes boring into his own.

"You trap yourself, he breaks your heart, she gives us hope, I save you all."

"The last part is new," frowned Ianto.

"Oh. But at least we can answer the question 'when' now," groaned Owen, referring to Rose's now glassy eyes and dreamy expression, "We re-entered the time of the paradox."

"We're on the Valiant," came the voice of Donna from the door. She moved there to check if anybody was there. She chuckled mentally at that, the training of the others was rubbing down on her, "There is a sign on the door."

"So we're a couple of feet away from the Master. Looks like we reached the last stage of the 'prophecy'; the endgame," muttered Ianto.

"No!" disagreed Rose, and the others winced. Her voice was so loud, she was almost shouting. Somebody must've heard her, "We have to wait for Donna and the hope," she demanded, and childishly crossed her arms over her chest. The others looked at the redhead questioningly. She didn't like that.

"What? I have no idea what she is raving about," she whispered furiously. The guards were coming.

Ianto spoke up, he realize something, "Donna! The clues we were getting in the last months. You have them with you, don't you?" when she nodded, he continued, "Give them to me."

Donna did as she was told, and started to load the little things –notes on napkins, alien recorder and scraps of papers- into Ianto's hands. The moment he had the last one in his arms, Rose gave him a brilliant smile, then closed her eyes. She looked like she was in deep concentration, then a moment later the objects disappeared in golden lights.

"Oh, I understand. Donna had the things that gave us hope in the past. She had to give it to you. Literally. Can we move on now?" spoke up Owen.

"Yes. But we have to get guns first. We can't take on the Master and the whole security without them," the moment Ianto finished his sentence, Rose gave him another of her disturbing smiles, then ran off.

"Oh, no. We don't have time for this," complained Owen before following the others who ran after the crazy blonde. He pulled up short at the last corner he saw Donna and Ianto, because he heard one of the guards reporting to his partners that he found an intruder, "Oh, bollocks," he muttered, then took off after his friends.

In a couple of seconds he arrived at the scene, but he was late. The fight already started. He barely had time to identify his team among the guards –there were at least twelve of them. In five seconds the guards noticed him too, but during that time he checked what his team-mates were doing.

Donna was struggling to get a bulky man off herself, using the good old method of kicking the opponent in the balls.

Ianto was fighting four guards –well, more like beating them to a pulp- in the same time. Owen noted, that he should stop pissing off the man in the future. Sure, the teaboy was a decent shooter, but the new –old- and improved Ianto Jones could pack a hell of a punch. Owen guessed that Ianto could kill him and hide the body within three minutes with one hand tied behind his back.

Then he looked at Rose. Gone were the innocent looks, the adorable –altough little crazy- smiles and the barely comprehendable sentences. In their place there was a scary light in her eyes. Literally. She looked like her eyes changed, from deep brown to an almost blindingly gold colour. And the gold was moving. It took Owen a minute to realize that he was seeing the Time swirling there. But it wasn't the guards' biggest problem. It was the fact, that she was fighting too. With suprising ease, like she was born to this. When he took a closer look at he moves, he realized that he's never seen anything like that before. She was...dancing. Only it wasn't unharming as the waltz or the salsa. No, it was much more dangerous. A deadly dance.

And by the time the three guards reached Owen, there were five bodies scattered on the floor around Rose.

When they reached him, Owen easily fought down two of them, and even had the time to wonder about his opponents' training. Or about the lack of it. They hit like a girl, and had the aim of a half-blind eighty-three years old lady. When he turned to take care of the third guard, he caught a glimpse of his opponent being dragged away and knocked out by Ianto. After seeing that, Owen rethought his earlier statement –Ianto could kill him and hide the body in two minutes with both hands tied behind his back.

"Is everybody alright?" spoke up Ianto after making sure that no more guards were coming. After hearing the affirmatives, he turned to Rose, "Don't run off like that again. It's dangerous, you could've get us all killed with that stunt."

"Sorry," came the muttered reply, followed by a bright smile, "But we have guns now! We can free the Immortal now," and with that she took off again.

"Jack," whispered Ianto, and started to run after her. He took two steps before he turned back, "Go and find the Martha. We have more chance to win if we separate; they don't know how many of us are on board," then without waiting for a reply, he disappeared.

"Oookaaay. Let's go," instructed Owen and pulled Donna in the direction of one of the corridors.

"Hold on. Do you have any idea where are we going? You could lead us straight into the Master's arms," demanded Donna.

"Keep your knickers on. Each corridor has a number. The control room is the zero. We just have to follow the right numbers."

"Are you sure?" she asked again.

"Yes. Now move, or do you have more unintelligent questions," he shot back, then took off.

"Pig," came the muttered reply.

"Angerball."

* * *

  
Ianto realized relatively soon, that arguing with Rose was pointless and a waste of time. She had the whole time and space on her side in the battle of wills against him. So after a couple of minutes he concluded, that in the current situation following the girl's lead was the best option. So he just shut up, and followed Rose through the seemingly endless corridors of the Valiant.

"Rose, are we there yet? Where are we going anyways? To find Jack?" asked Ianto for what seemed like the tenth time. He knew that he must've sounded like a spoiled child, but he didn't care. He hated to be kept in the dark.

"Almost," she giggled, for the tenth time. While she really enjoyed keeping Ianto in the dark, because it was funny, she had a specific purpose too. They had to be on time. She already saw everything happen, multiple times, so she's just chosen the best scenario. It was almost perfect, with only one variable. One was gonna die, or not, she couldn't see. Stupid Time Lords and their ability to hide from the ever watching eye of the time.

"Okay, but..," he was cut off when Rose held up a hand. A part of him didn't want to follow her, because she wasn't what one called sane. But the other part of him –he tended to call it Mulder- knew that she knew what she was doing. And in that moment she radiated confidence, knowledge...and power. Even he could feel it.

"We have to be very quiet. Like a little mouse," she whispered with wide eyes. Then she closed her eyes, screwing them shut. She looked like she was trying to hear something. She slowly took his hand. A moment later he found her staring at him again. She grinned, then pulled him up and said, "Run!"

She was leading him through more and more tunnels, till they reached a larger place. Rose suddenly let go of his hand and ran off to the other side of the room, while repeating one word, "Jack!"

Without hesitation Ianto followed her, and a moment later he found the young woman hugging his very shocked boss.

"Rose?" came the weak exclamation, followed by a slightly stronger, "Ianto?"

"Captain Jack Harkness. Jack Harkness. Captain Jack. Jumpin' Jack Flash," chanted Rose happily. When he heard her, Jack's earlier, relieved expression morphed into one of hot fury, and he edged away from the girl, as far as he could.

"Stop this. STOP THIS NOW. Torture me, kill, me, do anything you want, but don't you dare to touch my memories of them. Do you understand, Master," he spat angrily.

"Jack, it's us," tried to calm him Ianto, but Jack didn't listen to him.

"No, you're not. Rose is trapped, and Ianto is dead," he whispered, and Ianto heard tha slight waver in his voice. The memory caused him emotional pain.

"Tell him, Ianto," urged him Rose, "Tell him about the clues. The photo and the day that never was. Hurry, we have a red monster to slay," she singsonged.

Ianto realized what she meant. She was talking about the date they interrupted while they were on their little time-trip. Jack took him out, then promptly forgot about the events following up to the event. Later he found the bottle of recton near the bottle of headache pills, so they figured the Captain accidentally switched them, and rectonned himself. He smiled at the memory, but then his mind caught up. He was to tell him about the photo, and that meant Jack knew everything about him. The anger he felt almost six months ago came back. The Captain used him.

"There is a photo on your desk. It's about the ninth Doctor, you and Rose. There are writings on the back of it," he muttered coldly, while he was picking the lock on Jack's handcuffs.

"If you're just the Master's sick plaything, you could just get it from my head."

"Then you just have to believe me and hope that I'm not a figment of yout imagination," he shot back, getting annoyed and angry with the captain.

After a moment, Jack spoke up quietly, "Ianto? Rose? How? When?"

Ianto didn't know how to answer the questions without wasting time, so he just nodded to reaffirm Jack. After a couple of seconds of silence, cuffs fell down, and Ianto and Rose were swept into a hug by a very, very and strangely happy Jack Harkness.

Ianto gently disengaged himself from the embrace, then said, "Come on, as Rose said, we have a beast to hunt down," and with that, he motioned for the girl to lead the way. She noticed that he wasn't ready to deal with the re-found betrayal of the Captain, so she did as he wanted, pulling Jack along with her.

Another two minutes later they were standing in front of the cannibalised Tardis. Rose felt like screaming. At the other places the song was just confusing, and it was the confusion that hurt her by overhelming her, but this place was different. It felt like the Time itself was ripping her mind into pieces. She could hear all the pain and joy and happiness and anger of the universe, all that was, is and ever could be. She let out a weak whimper and clutched her head in agony. When she felt the beginning of another painwave, she braced herself against it.

But the pain never came. She opened her eyes –she didn't even notice that she closed them- and saw Jack and Ianto hovering over her, the former with the gun Ianto took away from her, and Jack with one he took away from a guard. When she turned her head, she noticed the reason of her painless state.

The paradox machine was dying, thanks to Jack who shot it into pieces. It was still struggling, but didn't have the power to keep the scar open. Her head shot up, she knew they had to hurry. They had things to do before Time corrected itself.

When she voiced her wish to go to the control room, Jack nodded without a word and broke into a run, leading the way. Ianto and Rose followed him.

When they reached the last turn, they came face to face with the captured Donna and Owen. They were struggling with their guards, but without success. Apparently the Master learned from his earlier mistakes and sent more trained guards against the intruders.

"Hey, boys. Would you let us join the party?" asked Jack, startling them. Ianto used their distracted state to disarm them and free his two friends. He didn't notice Jack staring at him with a gobsmacked expression. Rose sensed his friend's confusion, and laid a hand on the Captain's arm, telling him with her eyes that it's not the time for questions.

"What happened?" asked Ianto Owen, while passing him one of the guns he got from the disarmed guards.

"They attacked us three minutes after we separated. They were better trained than the ones we dealt with earlier."

"Owen,..er..."

„Donna," she supplied.

"...Donna, nice to meet you. Are you all ready to save the planet?" asked Jack.

"More than ever," came the reply from the team in unision, much to Jack's amusement.

"Then let's go," was all he said before he opened the door to the control room and strode in, if he owned the whole place. The others followed him without a question.

* * *

The events of the next ninety seconds were blurred. He was sure he saw Jack and Owen fighting the remaining guards while he was shooting down the returning Toclafanes. He didn't see Rose or Donna the whole time.

His next clear memores were the white light that engulfed the grotesque figure of the miniature Doctor, then spit out the normal looking one; Jack and Owen panting heavily near him, tired from the fight; Donna standing on the side with a black woman; Rose punching the Master and pointing a gun at him; her exchange of words with the Doctor.

Then the sound of a gunshot. And the hot pain of the fire.

* * *

  
Ianto was pulled out of his thoughts in a very painful way. The mug in his hand shattered and cut his palm, he squeezed it so tightly. He looked around to find something to put the pieces into, when he froze.

He was in the kitchen of the hub, dressed in clothes that brought up the most terrifying memories of his life.

He looked down, and let himself take in the sight of the bloody pieces of the shattered mug. The very familiar mug.

The mug he was sure he broke right before...

"Hurry up, Teaboy! You don't want to miss our oh so wonderful trip," came Owen's voice from the door.

...right before their trip to the Brecon Becons.

He took a deep breath, then exhaled with closed eyes. He slowly opened his eyes, there were tears in them. He finally understood the last part of the riddle.

"You saved us all," he whispered quietly, "from ourselves."

He took another deep breath, then walked out to join the others.


	10. ninety seconds

Chapter ten – Ninety seconds

Everything went differently, Ianto made sure of that. He wasn't going to let those barbarians scar his friends for a life.

Because that was what happened the first time, even if they didn't realize it. Before the trip to the countrycide, they were more...idealistic, naive. Even Owen. They came back with relatively minor injuries, but the mental scars were deep. They lost their faith at that place; they lost their faith in the humans.

Ianto knew that they all joined Torchwood to save the from the dangerous aliens. Aliens, not humans. They never thought that one time they'd have to go up against their own kind. At least not Owen and Tosh. Gwen was a copper before, so the brutality shocked her more than the committing race. He suspected that Jack wasn't that affected thanks to his experiences through the time. And Ianto himself didn't fall into a depressive state either. After seeing Lumic inflict the Cybermen on his homeworld, he couldn't be shaken by anything.

At least, this was what he thought. But after reliving the whole incident, he wasn't so sure about himself. All the time he spent at the Brecon Becons, he was thinking about the cannibals. He knew what will happen, he knew that he'd be able to prevent the things they did to his team-mates, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling the terror he felt the first time, and it made him think. He was supposed to be the hunter this time, not the prey. But he certainly didn't feel like he was in control. Maybe he wasn't so indifferent as he thought.

The fact that Bad Wolf,...no, Rose sent him back to this time meant that he was wrong, and he needed to deal with the events differently. Yes, it was the reason, he decided. And it was a bonus that he was able to help the team.

But as he thought more about it, he became insecure about the latter part. Maybe saving them was a mistake. Well, not saving them, but the way he did it. Teaboys and general support people aren't supposed to be trained in weapons. And they certainly shouldn't be able to fight off a room full of cannibals and freeing other people with a sprained shoulder.

Ianto winced. It really wasn't a good idea, it made the others wonder, well, not Gwen. She was occupied with her own shock. But -he knew- as soon as they arrived back, Tosh tried to access his personal file; Owen kept making comments about fighting the dirty dishes, but he sounded more amused than snide; and Jack kept shooting these calculating looks his way. Ianto knew that the older man didn't know about him yet, but couldn't shake off the feeling that he did.

He was currently hiding in the tourist office, not wanting to face the others and answering the questions he was sure they had. As he was sitting behind his desk with papers scattered around him, he realized he had to clear it up. He laughed inwardly; it was so good to be the old, slightly messy Ianto Jones for a year; he didn't want to be the tidy teaboy again. But he didn't really have a choice. He sighed and started to organize the mess.

After five minutes a shadow suddenly blocked the light from his desk. He quickly put on his polite face and looked up to see a woman flipping through a guidebook.

"Good morning. Can I he...," he trailed off as the newcomer turned around. He laughed aloud as he stood up, and wondered how could he miss the trademark peroxide-blonde hair. He walked up to her and said, "Hello Rose."

She smiled back and put the book back on the shelf, "Hello, Ianto. How are you? How was the trip?" she asked back with a mischevious glint in her eyes.

"You should know. You were the one who arranged it," he answered.

"I didn't arrange anything. I just gave you a chance, you made the decisions."

"Then let me thank you the chance. I was able to save them. I'm very grateful for that."

"You think that was what the chance was about?" she asked back, suddenly looking serious.

"I was thinking about it in the past fifteen minutes. I came up with a theory. Saving them was one part of it, me dealing differently with the effects the other," he replied, ignoring the voice in his head that taunted him with the word 'denial'. But unfortunately, Rose somehow managed to hear it.

"Are you sure there isn't another reason? One that is more about you?"

"Yes," 'Liar!'screamed the voice, 'You know the reason'.

"Really? I warn you, I learnt to read you in the past six months," she grinned as Ianto.

"Maybe you're right. But this doesn't change the fact that I don't want to deal with that now. It still hurts," he said, admitting that he knew what she was talking about.

"You can't avoid the topic forever. He is here."

"I know that he is here. But that doesn't change the fact that he betrayed me. I still get confused about the paradoxes, but I know that I was right the first time. He used me to get to you."

"But he won't this time."

"You don't know that."

"I do. The paradox is over, Ianto. We came back for a reason Ianto. Give him a chance."

Ianto didn't agree, instead he asked, "What reason?"

"I needed him here, near the rift, waiting for the Doctor," she admitted with a guilty expression on her face "I left him little reminders, you were the last. I'm so sorry, I didn't want to use you, but I had to," she said with tears and honest regret in her eyes.

"So you turned back time as an apology?" he tried to lift the mood with a joke.

"Partly. I also sent you back to give you a chance to be yourself. You already saw their reaction. You don't need to lie anymore. You don't have to pretend about everything and lie to Jack. So because here wasn't enough time for me to apologize for all the pain I caused..." she trailed off.

"So you decided to make it up to me the only way you could. With sending me back to start fresh," he summed up. He couldn't be anything than happy. The more he was thinking about it, the more possibilities could he see. Possibilities of a different, happier future. Maybe with Jack. But suddenly an other thought entered his mind. Jack was an immortal. They didn't have a future.

"Not anymore," spoke up Rose. He didn't notice that he said it aloud.

"What? How?"

"I left you with little gifts. You, Jack, Donna, Owen and the Doctor. Jack's was the end of his immortality. His role in the universe has changed. He doesn't have to live forever anymore."

"What was his role? Do you remember?"

"He was to be the Face of Boe. An immortal being; he was to make sure that the paradox happened. But the paradox is gone, so is Boe. He is mortal now, you saw his scars. He knows it too."

"Hold on. He was one of the reasons of the paradox?"

"Yes, I'll tell you later. Now we're here to talk about you. You have to decide. You can't keep running forever."

Ianto was thinking about his possibilities. One, he could go on if nothing happened, sprouting off some lies about Torchwood One's requirements for the support staff. Two, he could postpone the revealation for now, then bring it up again when he felt he was ready. But there was a chance that the others wouldn't be so understanding. Or three, he could let them know now. He fingered the pendrive he always kept in his pocket, with all the files and records about his indentity, including the 'movie' about this world's Ianto Jones' death. He could just plug it into his computer and let Tosh access the files. He could go out for a walk, and come back later, after they calmed down. Much more later.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Rose squeezed his hand. He looked at her, and knew she was right. In that light, he made his decision, inserted the little device, then turned to the girl next to him.

"Fancy a walk? You could tell me what happened on the Valiant. It's a blur, I can barely remember," and without waiting for an answer, he took her hand and pulled her out of the office.  


* * *

Ten minutes later they were sitting in a pub, drinking and talking. Ianto wasn't a fan of getting drunk before twelve, but this time he made an exepcion. He really didn't want to face the team while sober. He thought that the scotch he was nursing'd make the confrontation less painful. Rose caught on that

"Getting drunk won't solve anything," she remarked.

"You know I liked you better while you were crazy and talked in riddles," he snappeed back, then realized what he did, "Sorry. I'm nervous," he muttered, and noticed that he was slurring his words slightly, "And a little drunk."

"Four drinks in eight minutes do that to you," she smiled, then switched to an other topic, "You wanted me to tell what happened. Do you still want to know?"

"Yes, but I'd like to know what happened to the others. Will they remember what happened?"

"They won't be able. It'll be our little secret," she giggled, like in the old times.

"Why not?"

"Think about it. What's the only difference between you and the others, not counting the biological ones?"

"I'm from a different universe," he said aloud, then realization dawned on him, "I'm from a different world, that means a different vortex, so the time didn't affect me."

"Yes, with one minor correction. The reverse of the time didn't affect you," she corrected, then continued, "But you wanted me to tell you about the others." Ianto sensed, that she wanted to avoid the topic of the reverse, so he let her.

"Yes. What little gift did you leave them with?"

"To Owen it was Diane. He won't fall in love with her this time. He won't turn self-destructive, won't be weevil-food. Maybe he will find someone else one day."

"So there will be no teasing-material," he mused aloud, then waved his hand, "Go on, what about Donna? Let me guess, his fiance won't try to feed her to the Racnoss."

"No. He won't be her fiance. She won't fall in love. She'll get a very good job offer before she meets him. She will move away from London," she said with a strange glint in her eyes. Ianto noticed it, and snorted in understanding.

"You've got to be kidding!" when she shook her head, he exclaimed, "Donna will move here? And get together with Owen?"

"She's just coming here, I'm not making decisions about her love-life," Ianto still looked skeptical, so she added, "I know, I know. I doomed the world. But it was always supposed to happen this way. Bad Wolf just changed it for a while," she said, wiping the tears of mirth out of her eyes.

"So now that you told me all about our little team, could you share what happened on the Valiant? I didn't want to pressure you, but I need to know. To undestand," he pleaded.

Rose sighed and started her tale

* * *

  
_She was standing over the crouching figure of the Time Lord when she heard the sound. It was barely a whisper, but she heard it clear._

"Rose?"

She turned her head slowly, meeting the eyes of her beloved alien. She smiled at him, and begged for understanding and forgiveness. The Doctor looked like he was torn between being angry, confused, desperate and incredibly happy. He moved towards her, then suddenly stopped. He recognised the look in her eyes, and his eyes shifted to her hands.

She was still pointing the gun at the Master, preparing to pull the trigger.

"Rose," he whispered again, but this time there was a serious note to his tone. He was going to try to stop her. She knew she couldn't let that happen, "Put down the weapon. Please."

"I can't. This has to be done. There is no other way."

"Rose, please," he begged, and it broke her heart. She knew she had to kill the Master in order to save the man she loved. And she knew that he was going to hate her.

"Doctor, who is she?" a new voice joined the conversation. Rose looked at her, for the first time since her enter. Martha was staring at the Doctor with a mix of adoration and accusation. Rose sighed inwardly, her time-travelling alien had a new fan. When she turned her attention back to the black woman, she noticed that Martha was now staring at her, but it was more like a death-glare. The woman clearly viewed her as a competition, and already hated her.

"She is Rose," he replied in a soft voice, which didn't go unnoticed by the Master.

"Oooh, so you're the imfamously famous Rose, the owner of my best mate's little, bleeding always sorry hearts," he mocked, then turned to Martha, "That's bad news for you, isn't it? Her return means that you can shift off," he exclaimed with fake cheerfulness.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she denied.

"Oh, you do. And you hate her for it. So, why don't you act, and shoot the little slut? Then maybe her star-crossed lover too? I'd take you with me to travel through time and space," he coaxed her. T_he Master wasn't stupid. He knew that there were several guns in the room, but having one trained on their precious little Rose, he'd control all of them. Martha was the best candidate for the job; the blind could see the hate in her eyes, directed at the blonde. She was overruled by her jealousy, she was easy to control. He couldn't hide his smirk when the doctor-in-training pointed her weapon on her rival._

"Stop it, Master. And don't listen to him Martha. He's just playing with your head," ordered the Doctor with barely concealed rage. He could see Martha's indecision too, and it hurt and angered him that for months he was travelling with someone who could think about killing an innoccent because of jealousy.

Suddenly Martha's hand jerked. The last thing the Master saw before the bullet pierced his chest was the Doctor lunging towards the woman.

* * *

  
„She fooled then shot him?"asked Ianto

„No. I did"answered Rose „Martha was shooting at me. The Doctor disarmed her, but he was too late"

„What?"

* * *

  
_The Master was lying on the floor with the Doctor holding him. He registered that his friend-turned-enemy was trying to get him to regenerate. He denied it, having a much better plan, and that meant much mor fun. He looked over the Doctor's shoulder and saw something the others didn't. It was hard to notice as she was still standing._

"I won, Doctor. You'll be the last, and you'll be alone. Forever. Because you were too slow," he was watching with sick pleasure as the realization dawned on the other Time Lord.

The Doctor jumped upand rushed to Rose's side. Without his sonic screwdriver he could do nothing but watch as the red spot appeared ang grew on Rose's chest.

"Nonononono," he muttered as he was trying to stop the bloodflow. He remembered that the Master had a screwdriver of his own. 'Maybe that could help' he thought. He jumped up to retrieve it, but was met with a familiar and very much hated white wall.

* * *

  
"Let me guess. You played the whole suprise time-trip with him too," remarked Ianto.

"Guilty," she admitted, "But I was shot and didn't have the time to warn him."

"And you didn't see the shooting before it happened?" asked the man.

Rose smiled guiltily, "I did. But it was still the best scenario. All the other possibilities included at least one of you dead."

"Then I have to thank you. But we're getting off-topic. How did he react? You shot the Master after all," his slur was still there, but it wasn't that noticable.

"To say he wasn't happy is an understatement. I was so afraid, I thought he was going to leave me behind," she said with tears in her eyes. It was painful to remember.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to," said Ianto softly. He was sobering up rather quickly. When she didn't answer, he assumed, "He didn't really leave you, did he?"

* * *

_The Doctor was staring at the wall in the Ghost Room with wide eyes. He couldn't believe he was there. He was thinking about the reasons that made him end up there. Were the past years just hallucinations? A hand being placed on his shoulder snapped him out of his musings. He whirled around and found himself facing Rose._

He managed to say a soft "Hello," before he grabbed and pulled her into an embrace. He only pulled away to cup her face with his hands and kiss her.

When she pulled back a little, he panicked. 'How could I have been so stupid? Were not like that' he thought. He looked back at the girl in front of him, but instead of the expected shock he saw a sad smile.

"It wasn't a hallucination," was the only thing she said, but it was enough for the Doctor. He thought back to the past year, and there was only one thing that kept him from yelling at the woman he loved. Well, make that two reasons. One, he loved her, and didn't want to do something rash. The second was worry.

"You were shot," he said as he moved to check her over. There were no bullets or blood or scars.

"It didn't happen yet, you know that. We're here to fight a war," she answered softly. She didn't want to hurry him, this time they had enough time. She let him avoid the topic. Rose knew that he'd bring it up sooner or later.

"How did you get back?"

"Bad Wolf. And the fact that one can't live in an alternate universe if he or she doesn't have a counterpart in it."

"The Equilibrum theory is wrong. My people disproved it a long time ago."

She let out a little laugh, "Then it was just the Bad Wolf." 

_She honestly thought that the theory was right. But if what the Doctor was saying was true, than it was her that set that up, too. But the only thing she didn't understand was Mickey and her Mum's place. Why did they change. As soon as the thought entered her mind, her memories came back to her. She saw herself on the gamestation, and realized that it was her gift to her beloved ones. They didn't become their parallel selves, they just forgot her. They forgot about her, so they didn't suffer after her departure. _

_„It was the Bad Wolf all along," she echoed._

After a little pause came the question she was waiting for, "Why?"

_"It had to be done. He wasn't meant to exist," she said, running a hand through his hair. Despite the seriousness of their conversation he didn't let go of her waist. Yet._

"How could you possibly know that?" he asked. But she didn't need to answer, "Bad Wolf?" she nodded, "Tell me everything!"

"It's long and complicated."

"Well, despite everything that happened lately, I still notice when an unknown force stops Time from moving. So I'm aware of the fact that we have all the time in the Universe," he said, a little harsher than he wanted to.

"Everything happened because of the War."

"What do the Cybermen have to do with the Master?" he interrupted.

"Not this war." Again, she didn't need explain that. He realized what war she was talking about.

"The Time War," he whispered.

"He wasn't meant to be resurrected. Your people created a paradox. They figured they'd deal with it after the war."

"But Gallifrey was destroyed..."

"...erased from existence," she corrected quietly, "Leaving a paradox behind, one with no beginning and no end..."

"...and it could be stopped only by another paradox, one with a beginning and an end..."

"...one that was much more bigger than the one the Master's life caused..."

"... like the Bad Wolf," he finished. He rested his head on her shoulder and asked, "What happens now?" There was another question, one he didn't voice 'Can you stay with me?'

_"It's up to you. Time will continue soon. We can go, stop the invasion and make it back together. Or we can go, stop the invasion and I can let go of the lever, waiting for Pete to save me."_

The Doctor's head shot up, „What?" he asked with wide eyes, „You want to go back?" 'You want to leave me?'

"Do you want me to leave?" she avoided answering. She wanted to hear it from him.

"How can you say –and think- that?" he was genuinely shocked. But then he caught on, and muttered, barely audible "Of course I don't want you to." To his suprise Rose pulled away from him with teary eyes.

"As you wish," was all she said.

The Doctor rethought his sentence and realized his mistake, "No, you missunderstood. No. I was wrong. No, it came out the wrong way. Or you just heard it the wrong way. Or I don't know," he rambled, "I want you to stay. With me. Forever. Or until you get bored of me. I love you," he continued, but stopped after the last part, and looked at her. He didn't want the confession to come out this way. But she didn't seem to be bothered with it. In fact, before he could open his mouth to reshape his last sentence, she jumped into his arms, laughing, then she kissed him.

After a while, Rose pulled away again, "I was meant to say that I'll stay, but we have to send our metallic friends into Hell," she said then giggled, "You were so cute when you were rambling."

"Right. After we're finished, we're going back to the Tardis –she missed you, by the way- and you'll pay for scaring me," he threatened, then turned to grab one of the clamps on the wall.

„I can't wait. Oh, and Doctor," when he turned back, she grabbed his tie, pulled him close and kissed him, „I love you too."

* * *

"So you got your happy ending," commented Ianto.

"You can say that. It was rough in the first weeks. While we were in the room it didn't sink in that I killed the Master. Six weeks ago it did. We were screaming at each other so loud, that the Tardis locked us out until we calmed down," she laughed at the memory.

"Must've been a sight," he chuckled, then changed the topic, "What happened to Martha? And what about the others on the Valiant?"

"Martha is back to her ordinary life, just like the others," she replied, "The Doctor was quite pissed at her."

"You can't blame him. She tried to kill you."

"I know. But the Master controlled her," she argued.

"He was shot, so he must've been weak too. And that means that she must've wanted to hurt you, if it was that easy to control her."

"The Doctor said the same thing."

"Great minds think alike," Ianto stated smugly.

"Wow. You've just became the member of the My-Ego-Is-Larger-Than-Russia club."

"Who are the other members?"

"My alien and Jack, of course," she answered his question, then continued, "And speaking of Jack, I want you to be a godfather," she grinned.

"Godfather? To who? And what does that do with Jack?" he asked, then realization dawned on him, "Congratulation. And me being the godfather means that Jack will be the godmother?"

She grinned again, "I knew I liked you for a reason Ianto Jones."

"I can say the same, Rose Tyler."

Then she stood up and put on her coat with Ianto's help. "I have to go."

"They're coming, aren't they?" he asked and she nodded, "Is there any chance that I could run away with you in your time machine?"

"No. You have to face them," she pressed a piece of paper in his hand, "Here. Call me if you need anything."

She kissed him goodbye then walked away. Ianto ordered another drink and moved to a table with five seats. Two minutes later he was joined by the rest of the Torchwood team.

After a long and uncomfortable silence the four glanced at each other. Owen spoke up first, and Ianto braced himself against the verbal assault.

"So, does that mean that we'll have to make our own coffee?" he asked, and Ianto's head shot up. He really didn't expect this.

"Or do the reports without your help?" added Gwen.

"Or does that mean that we'll have one more person to tackle the angry weevils?" continued Tosh.

Ianto looked at Jack. He was yet to say something. After gulping down Ianto's untouched drink, he spoke up, "So, do you know any good secretaries who could replace you?" his eyes were laughing.

Ianto thought back to his conversation with Rose and answered, "Donna Noble. You'll like her."

"Okay. Now let's move to the next topic," Ianto was sure it'll be about his past. But he was wrong, because instead of starting a serious conversation, Jack stood up and bellowed to the waiter, „Hey! Could you get us five beers?"

When Jack sat back and grinned, Ianto felt better than he ever did during his time in this world. He didn't have to be a genius to know what it meant. He was truly happy and in peace.

He had his defending-Earth-from-aliens-on-a-daily-basis friend with him, he felt the ex-immortal love of his life squeezing his hand, and he had a crazy, time-travelling blonde as his personal shrink.

He knew it was a mad world. But it was his home.

* * *

  
Rose was standing in the control room when she heard the Doctor coming up behind her. He reached out and started to massage her shoulders.

"We don't have to do this right now, you know. If you feel you're not up to it, we can come back later," he said, watching her gazing at the burning supernova.

"Yes, we have to. I want to say goodbye."

"Okay," he moved, pushed buttons and pulled levers. A couple of minutes later he straightened out and said „It's done. All we have to do is wait" She nodded, but didn't say anything. Another ten minutes later he spoke up again, "It's time."

She nodded again, and suddenly she found herself standing on a beach, facing her mother.

"Hey Mum," was all she could say.

The next three minutes were extremely painful, altough she knew what was to come. But it was the last time she saw her mother, she was sure of it. The gap didn't come out in Norway like the last time. They were in Cardiff, without a Bad Wolf message popping up anywhere. Jackie told her about her new marriage and the baby. Rose almost corrected her, that it was babies. She told her mother about not being able to see her again ever, and about her own pregnancy. Jackie took the news as they expected, she ordered the Doctor to show his face, then threathened him with all the torture she could imagine if he hurt her daughter.

"I love you sweetheart," she said, "And I'm proud to have a daughter like you. Take care."

"I love you too Mommy," said Rose before the image of her mother faded away.

* * *

  
Three months later she was sitting on a couch, watching the Doctor struggle with a cot.

"I'm telling you, this manual is wrong," he huffed.

"Or you just don't want to admit that you have no idea what are you doing," she laughed.

"Oi. You're supposed to side with me."

"I always do. But this time I'm siding with the little one's safety. So let's call Jack and Ianto. I'm sure either of them can read a manual and put a cot together."

The Doctor mock-glared at her, then dropped next to her on the couch, his head resting in her lap. He leaned close to her swollen belly, and whispered to their unborn son, like he always did. But this time he wasn't telling gallifreyan tales.

"I can't wait for you to be born. I need another man on this ship, she's always overpowering me, the controlling woman."

"Hey!" she protested.

"But you know what?" he continued, "I wouldn't have it any other way. I love her," and with that, he pulled himself up, and kissed her soundly..

Moments later he was back talking to the baby, this time about the suns of Gallifrey.

While she was watching him, she had some time to think. If someone told her eight years earlier that she'd be here one day, she'd have laughed. But now, here she was. With his time travelling alien love, their unborn child in a time machine. With an ex-immortal as a best friend, and his lover from an alternate universe as an almost brother. Not to mention the extended life-span she had, thanks to the Tardis.

She chuckled lightly as the Doctor started another tale, this time about his own childhood on Gallifrey.

Yes, the world was a mad place. But she absolutely loved it.


End file.
